Ironstone
by Lavenderpaw
Summary: No other time can compare to the kind Hogarth spends with the ones he loves. But time will never stop and as new challenges threaten to tear his friendship with the Giant apart, the two must find a solution to save not only themselves, but each other. FINISHED!
1. Where it all began

_Always toward absent lovers love's tide stronger flows. ~ Elegies _

**I. – **Summer 2000...

There is nothing I can say for what has happened to me in the last thirty-four years of my life.

John Rice typed this on the new gray laptop The Rockwell Daily had provided him.

Except that I have learned from many different people that have tried in vain to change my opinion on what things are. For example, have you ever looked to the sky and seen a plane leaving a streak across? You may very well picture a meteor or even a satellite if you will. But no matter what anyone tells me, I will always see my best friend in that plane exhaust.

Closing his cover and looking out at the bay atop the now unmanned lighthouse, the fifty-five-year-old journalist and war vet viewed the mist of blue across the calm water. Even in the twenty-first century everything looked normal. Except, of course, for the man himself.

"Well, Hughes." Hogarth said to himself. "Looks like you're back."

A small figure with long legs circled the arc of concrete, just as she had decades earlier.

"Is he coming?" Pygmy asked. The cat bot pushed her paneled face under his hand.

Hogarth looked her over as he always did with tired eyes.

"He'll be here," the man stroked her unvarnished forehead. At half a century old, Hogarth still thought of himself as reasonably attractive. His long, graying hair grew over on one side, a partial beard grew whisker-like around his face and he still remained well-muscled along his arms and legs from when he had been seventeen. Though there were two issues.

Pygmy looked at his vagabond clothing as she always did.

Coming with the recommendations he did, he wondered if she ever had thought he should dress up more. The transmuted droid crawled between him and the computer just to press herself to his board-flat abdomen. Hogarth smiled and ran his hand down her back just as he had for years. "I don't know what I'm going to say." he admitted to Pygmy at long last.

She looked up at him with her chick-colored eyes. "He loves you." his goddaughter told him. Hogarth still appeared unsure as he stared down at her purple face. She rested her head against his heart and then looked up at him happily, her lower shutters ascending.

He gave her one final stroke behind the ear before she slipped around the building.

Hogarth was just about to stand and go back into the lighthouse when a shadow cast by the rising sun made him turn to look toward his left. Just as yesterday, in a full body of patchwork metal, water rust and air oxidation, was the Iron Giant. In a blue flash Pygmy was standing at her thirty-five-foot height. Hogarth stood as well as father and daughter embraced one another before the younger of the pair sent her godfather an assuring look.

Once she left the two old friends turned to each other.

The tag line _Thirty four years_ was now in full force.

Finally the Giant worked up the courage and extended his hand to Hogarth. Just as when the middle-aged man had been a teenager attempting to walk onto his friend's hand again, a small balance problem made him teeter. The Giant, however, caught his remaining hand.

"Gotta watch that bad knee," Hogarth commented, drawing attention away from the nub of left arm he kept wrapped in bandages. A rush of sadness unexpectedly hit the man and he spread himself open. The Giant brought him in closer when his yellow eyes lit his iron.

"I want to show you something." he said as he did this, unaware of his Titanic condition.

"Oh," the man backed away at the sea life clinging to his friend. "I… uh, was just going to say that if we're heading into the sea, I shouldn't take my laptop because it'll get wet and I-," as he rambled on the Giant made note of the problem, pushed the slimy sea creatures aside and brought his best friend close to his chest. He hugged him with his one free hand.

Hogarth got caught on whatever he was babbling about. "Ah pal, it's good to see you."

Ignoring the obvious embarrassment, the man hugged the Giant back.

"I've been waiting so long…" his baritone voice was almost in pain.

"Wait's over," Hogarth said as he stepped back.

They had no more words to say.

There was no guarantee that the wondrous transmutation would work between them now.

Instead, the Giant opted to show Hogarth another way.

**II. – **Portland, Maine…

Linda sighed. Arnold Garret Smith struggled under her cracked fingers.

Being a special needs adult meant the man needed round-the-clock care. If these disabled men and women didn't need to be repositioned they needed to be wiped, if they needed to be wiped then they needed their briefs changed. 'We can't call them diapers.' she thought.

The man with the bald head and triangular features, who hadn't been visited by his mother Jane in two weeks, was suffering from a disease where you forever appeared aged. It was so rare that only a few known cases existed in America. Letting her shoulders drop after she pulled the metal cord on the lamp off, Linda crossed the hall of the nursing home she worked at to take a look at the newest arrival. It was Arnold's own mother, bed bound in a coma from a car accident she had been in. Linda suddenly felt sympathy for the woman.

Here she was, fifty or so years old and taking care of a disabled adult who could not and would never function properly. If only the father had been around. The night nurse knew her shift was coming to an end and went over to check on the surprisingly youthful lady.

Jane's small face was smooth except for a few wrinkles around her eyes and cuts dotting her skin. Hair the color of honey fanned out over the side of her bed with gray beginning to peek out in a medium shade. Somehow Linda didn't think Jane dyed it. The color was too natural. In fact, everything about Jane Smith was too natural, especially her odd name.

Who, on God's green earth, named their kid an _alias?_

**III. **– The year 2231...

"Trina." Abba Arch Gungatung stroked the rough metal of her gilded throne. "How long has it been?" The large palace that had been constructed for her was wide and had arched openings running along it's width. Her cousin and confidante turned from fixing her droid.

"Quite a long time," the fifty-nine-year-old woman answered. "I told you that the purge of Pygmy left all 2201 droids extinct and that all remaining Giant clones help humans."

"Well," the Queen stood and swung her dark green robe around herself as she descended the stairs, smiling a bit. "That was their choice. That's what my father taught me long ago and so their sacrifice was for the good of our world." she moved to look out at her air-run city: Zephyron. "Without the humans and droids from Robocity we wouldn't have any of the resources we do. Without the Alpha and Omega we wouldn't have unity." she turned to Trina. "Without my father, we wouldn't have this city. And without my mother Trina-,"

"Yes, yes, we all know you think of the Giant and Gold as your parents."

The forever occupied woman still found equality among droids and humans unsatisfying.

"You can see what that has left me." She picked up a few new screws from her case for her green droid. Of course, everyone in Zephyron wore green. "One droid, no family, no anything… except for you." Trina directed a knowing smile up at a rather worried Abba.

They always played this game, even though it never went anywhere.

"Do you think my father will ever come back?" She knelt and handed Trina a silver tool.

"As he promised when you were six?" her cousin muttered, distracted. "Rather impossible if it's been this long, Abba. You have a kingdom to oversee. You've always had control of the fourth hemisphere of this world not because of your relation to the still infamous Garth Hughes but because of your direct link to The Iron Giant, because of your relation to your grandfather Archer. He was possibly the most respected man after the Giant in our time."

"Still," Abba viewed her empty throne room. "If my father returned to our time with the memory box, it's recorded information of past human knowledge could help us uncover the secret to humanity." she went on excitedly like a child. "We could proceed with my original project. The lost art of how to copy more humans could be found out. If only Father would bridge our two iron worlds, we could be united. Not only that Trina but

we could allocate our humanity to droids, it is what Tress wanted. Think of it Trina!"

The older woman sighed roughly and placed her droid's backside down, locking what was becoming rusty and harder to manage into it's fixed hold. "Abba," she looked seriously into the Queen's eyes. "You are thirty five years as of now. I know your father helped establish in your mind the idealistic nature of a princess ruling her kingdom, he even designed a small part of your kingdom into a treasured iron metropolis based on the

stories Taylor Evans told him, and all because he loved you. But it's time to face life

and the hard truths of it. Many lives were lost in the struggle to stop my cousin Kina,

to put an end to a madman in the 1960's and get two lost teens back to their rightful

period. What I'm trying to say is, there is no guarantee your father is ever returning."

"But the droids?" Abba backed away, unused to hearing her requests go unmet.

"They must remain droids, Abba." Trina said wearily. The wide green eyes her cousin

gave her only drove her to compound this idea more. "I don't want to see humanity go extinct anymore then you do, my cousin. But we have no means of knowing how we're

to keep it going. Our droids… my droid, for example, raised a whole generation. In this

congenial time frame we were not taught how to make more humans. But… we cannot

comply with your wishes to convert droids into humans." She left Abba to be by herself.

The green droid followed after Trina, the last of it's kind made to follow humans.

"I hope she doesn't bring this idea forward, just like Kina with her cyborgs."

Humanity was no longer doomed by external forces. Rather, it was doomed by ignorance.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~

**AN:**

Now this story won't make much sense unless you've read The Protector. You can try however. Results may vary depending if you understand. You're still welcomed to read.


	2. Meeting up and catching up

**I. **Mid-morning, 2231...

Abba stepped off of the fifteen minute rail car that went from the main port the enormous iron droids took people to. One of Zephyron's best had escorted her and she would have made it out the front door altogether if her cousin Trina hadn't reminded her of her age.

So, in nothing but a green jumper with faux fur running down the lapels, she arrived late.

"Abba?" A tall, thin man in his early forties approached her.

"Tress!" The woman threw her green purse to the side and ran over in matching slipper shoes. Her childhood friend laughed in surprise as she reached for his light blonde hair.

"Whoa, whoa." he calmly held her back by the shoulders. "Easy there. I gotta use that neck later." The man had never lost the lingo Hogarth had taught him. "You took the

IR up here by yourself?" Tress tried not to look disapproving as Abba clung to his arm.

"Mm-hmm." She sighed in exasperation at his face. "Oh, Tress! Come on. Let's catch up you and I." The two friends ignored – or in Abba's case, was oblivious to – the stares the elderly people gave them. Many Giant clones helped to transport the green-suited people.

It was the fate that had befallen the last survivors of Kina's failed mission.

"So what are you doing with yourself?" Tress said as he seated Abba first in an oval stool.

The small, open restaurant in Zephyron's middle-class district was where the droids found themselves living. No trash littered the streets and the air punk-powered city surrounding what happened to be the youngest citizens there was Victorian-inspired, unlike Abba who insisted her part of the city be constructed entirely in royal décor; gilded paint, silver trim, colored glass for jewels, scepter poles and only the finest fabrics for the aging population.

"Well, today Trina and I played house." Abba kicked her feet up and down under a metal ornate table. "And _of course_ I insisted that Trina play the grandma. She really needs to go and make herself happy in that pool house I had built for her. Swimming water is so rare."

"Indeed." Tress was immediately serious, which Abba hated.

She sighed.

"You really should consider establishing a form of government." The man talked to her with his fingers laced. "The rest of the three spheres have done so. Abba," she tried hard not to roll her eyes. "You won't be around forever. This fairy tale lifestyle at such an age is not suitable… I-," he stalled from speaking. The woman bobbed her head from side to side and acted like she was looking at something in the sky. "I could help you, my dear."

"I know you can help me."

When Abba placed her hand over Tress's he knew that she was in one of her rare but still far-fetched moments of seriousness. He tried to speak. "Please," she placed a finger to his lips. "You have come from the schooling that takes place in lower- middle class Zephyron, you are skilled when it comes to science." Tress blinked, her finger still stayed in place as he tried to speak again. "I want your help in fully equating all droids as citizens, Tress. I want to start what was abandoned long ago." she spoke with sincerity to her best friend.

"What do you want me to do, Abba?" Tress asked. He was suddenly rendered a child.

"I want to save humanity." She answered, sitting back in her chair. "I will tell you how."

**II. **– Same day, same time, 2000...

Hogarth was anxious to see where they were headed to.

"Can I put my non-existent hand down, Giant?"

"Yes." The baritone voice of his buddy answered.

What lay before them made Hogarth start to back away, but the Giant gently sat him down and made the move to go. Hogarth brought his brows up and shook his head at the robot.

There was no way he was doing this. It had been made clear to him yesterday to keep out.

"He's not going to live forever, Hogarth."

"Do I at least get a lift back?"

Their bantering was still in place. The Giant lifted his mandible at this and turned to leave.

"I'll come for you later," he promised, disappearing into the trees.

"I still have work tomorrow!" Hogarth called out over his shoulder. "I'm on probation!"

The man's eyes traveled the length of the barbed wire fence. Sighing, he hobbled up to it.

…

"Do you want it or what?" Dean McCoppin swiped backwards at the air. "I'm not makin' a fortunate off of computer copper, but I suppose the extra few dollars I'll get is worth it."

"You know what they say," the fifty-something pawnbroker said. "One person's trash is another person's profit." he flashed the older man a golden-toothed smile and received an even deeper scowl then before. He scoffed. "Whatever McCoppin. Do as you see fit son."

"What?"

"You're twenty years older than me, it's just an expression. You know like 'kid', 'boy' ."

Dean suddenly became enraged at his pestering. "Twenty years deader if you don't-!,"

He froze.

The pawnbroker turned his head to look in the direction of a ragged man off the streets.

"He a client of yours?" Suspicion lined Billy's voice.

"No, stepson."

William Peterson walked up automatically to Hogarth, looked him up and down in wide-eyed bewilderment, and then rushed off. The two outsiders were left to themselves then. It hadn't been Dean's words yesterday that had kept the younger man from coming: _"Don't come." _but pride itself. Hogarth knew his stepfather wanted to see him. The context had been for Hogarth's own sake and sanity. At least, that's what Hogarth hoped he'd meant.

"Hello, Dean."

The salvage man kept himself busy with the broken computer wires.

A few seconds of silence past.

"Aren't you going to speak to me?" Hogarth made no move towards him.

"Excuse me?" Dean looked up.

"I said-,"

"I heard what you said. Ho-ho! I've always heard what you've said Hogarth. What I don't hear is a Mr. McCoppin out of your grown ass lips. What I don't hear is your _reason _for coming here. What? Giving you back your motorcycle wasn't enough? You want more?"

Hogarth was entirely at a loss. "Dean, I-,"

"You want the welcome wagon? It ain't here buddy! I'm a seventy-four-year-old bastard, I'm tired as hell and I don't want the likes of you around!" his stepson started. "Go, _now_!"

"You know," Hogarth turned to leave, not wanting Dean to see his eyes. "The reason I-,"

"The Giant, I know. He personally came down here to tell me he wanted us to talk."

"So you don't wanna talk to me? I was your friend, I loved you. Don't you think I care?"

"Yes I think you care Hogarth." Dean moved towards him. In khaki pants, a sweater vest and a slight hunch in his back, seeing him doing business at this age made Hogarth feel all the worst for wear. "But I'm an old man now Hogarth, and so are you. What more do you want?" he looked stricken. "God, Hogarth! Don't you think I tried my damnedest in life?"

"Yes."

"Don't you think I wish I could summon the courage to be with my daughter?"

"Yes."

"My granddaughter and great-grandsons?"

"Yes!" Hogarth said with conviction, his eyes and voice burning.

The fire in his gut made him clutch at it with his only hand.

"Your arm." Dean motioned. "What happened to it?"

"A jeep accident."

"Your knee?"

"Motorcycle accident ten years ago."

"Your weight?"

Hogarth studied his body; he wore baggy blue pants, a large gray jacket and a turtleneck.

"What about it? I'm one-eighty-nine."

Dean suddenly smiled crookedly and nodded. "Huh huh huh. Sure. Sure." Hogarth saw the wooden cane he had in his belt loop as he pulled it out. "You'll have to be shrewder then that, Hogarth." The elderly man past him slowly, looking at his prickly prison wall.

"You know I never stopped caring about you, Dean." Hogarth whispered.

"I know, kid."

"You know I asked about you all the time in my letters to Julie. About Donna-Lee."

"Now we got us some more kids." Dean said, balancing himself on his cane.

"Listen, Dean, it was really good seein' ya. But I guess I better-,"

Just like that, his stepfather had him around the neck and was drawing him in.

"It's good to see ya, kid." Dean sobbed a little in his ear. He patted his back. "It really is."

Hogarth gradually hugged the man back. "It's good to see you too, Dean. I missed ya."

…

Still unsure of what the Giant was so busy doing, Hogarth rode the old sixties motorcycle that had appeared outside McCoppin's Scraps back up to his sister's two story clapboard home. Julianne's oldest grandson sat on the white wood porch with two gloves and a ball.

He gave the red chrome the faintest interest and looked back down.

Hogarth himself parked the bike by the side of the house. Yes, he knew the scene was set up for him to approach the boy and be fatherly towards him. Somehow, being a mentor to a youngster was just in itself too cliché for Hogarth. Now when he was younger, healthier and stronger, yes. The last time he had seen his son was a day after his twentieth birthday.

It had also been the last time he had seen Taylor; the last day he had felt fatherly towards anyone.. _Taylor_. Hogarth started around the back of the house when he heard the porch door swing open and close. _Ivan_. _Ivan_… his son's name rang in his head. _Taylor, Taylor_.

"Hey, Jean." The five-year-old boy of the same name called out. "Time for dinner!"

"Does it look like I'm hungry, Taylor?"

"Grandma made soup," he tried to go on enthusiastically. "She's got fish too. Just like we eat back in Portland. Come on, Mom is coming downstairs now." the little boy persisted.

"What part of "no" don't you understand?" Hogarth straightened up against the wall.

He was listening for his own mention.

"You gonna play catch with someone?"

"No."

" '_No_!' " Taylor mocked.

"It doesn't even matter, Dad had to drive to the library to run a fax."

There was a pause for thought. "Sorry… hey, why don't you get Uncle Garth to play?"

"Uncle Garth?"

Hogarth folded his arms and anticipated the rumors Julie's daughter had told them.

"Not a chance."

"Why?"

"Cause Mom says he was real cracked up in the war, Nam made him go develop a head disorder called bombshell disorder. It's when you can't function in real life and hate any kind of family stuff…" Satisfied, Hogarth rubbed at his raw nub under his bandages and headed for the back door. "He doesn't like kids, Taylor, ever since he lost his own son."

'Uncle Garth' stopped right at the house's end.

"Oh yeah, Ivan Grant. Mom mentioned him once."

"I know since Grandpa died you've wanted someone like him, but it's stupid Taylor."

…

" 'Stupid?' "

The boys looked up to see their great uncle walking around the house with a bat.

"Now look," Hogarth gave Taylor one of the baseball mitts and handed Jean the ball. "I want you to watch how to place this mitt on and the way to catch this ball," he gloved his hand and pounded his arm into the leather palm, forcing himself into a squat. "Okay kiddo, try tossing it my way." The kindergartner stick his tongue out and tossed it over his head.

"Taylor!" Jean cried out.

His little brother stared wide-eyed up at it and cringed at the ground. Before it could hit him, Hogarth swiped it from out of mid-air. He tossed it up a few times before squatting to Taylor's level and showing him a few easy throws. Jean readied himself for the catch.

"Cool, who taught you?" the older boy asked.

"My Dad."

"Sweet. Just promise not to call us kiddos anymore, kay?"

"As long as you guys promise not to try out for little league."

Jean chuckled.

…

"Mother." Donna-Lee, blonde, red lips and as frantic as a bird, spoke from the window.

"Yes, dear?" Julianne McCoppin pushed herself up in her wheelchair to taste the soup.

"What is he doing?" She watched as her estranged uncle knelt behind Jean.

"Missing out on clam chowder is what he's doing, why don't you page that husband of yours?" Julie received the look she expected. "Darling, they're playing catch. It's safe."

"Correction, Uncle _Garth _is playing catch with my sons."

"Well is your husband very good at sports?"

"No," Donna-Lee said sourly.

Her mother smiled. "Well, than you have nothing to worry about, your uncle is passable."

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	3. Old friends, old foes

**I. – **Mid-day 2231...

"This place is so… uninhabited."

Abba and Tress stepped off of the Giant clone's hand in the ruins of Alpha D. C.

"Thank you, Sputnik." The Queen smiled up at the gray automaton.

Droids could self-transmute in this new age and take people to places the IR did not.

"Do not be too long." He replied amiably in the Ominish language they all spoke.

"They're courteous," Tress moved along with his friend through the ruins. "But I never cared much for their one-note hospitality. You know, the Giant had many dimensions."

"My father." Abba agreed, throwing her green rubber sack over one shoulder. The two were dressed down in sporty green jumpers normally worn in lower Zephyron by people Tress's age. When the man mentioned Hogarth Hughes she waved at the air dismissively.

"I have no concern for him."

They came across the building Trina had told Abba about.

"She would visit during her down times from the Northern Hemisphere."

Anything before the Giant was hurtled into 1957 was lost knowledge.

Even Trina, who seemed to know everything, did not know how humans were made.

"You hope to uncover the truth of humanity." Tress said as he took the old card used to open the huge metal doors, sliding it into the side of the enormous building. "If anyone would have known it would have been Hogarth… and my brother. His passing was…"

Abba placed her hand on the man's shoulder. "He would want you to do this." she said.

He looked up at her with moist eyes and accepted her hug.

Finally, Tress pulled back and relaxed. "Maybe you're right Abba, maybe we can find a means of saving humanity. Without children, without the _knowledge_ of how to make at least some type of heirs after ourselves…" the giant, creaky door slid away from it's jab.

"Would it not be awesome to convert droids into humans?" Abba said, child-like again, as they entered. "We would all be on equal ground then!" she jumped around excitedly inside the shadowy expanse. Tress shot her a look. "Just imagine! The wonders we two could-,"

"Are you insane?" The man turned on her, snappish.

Abba was quick to reel back.

"I thought you wanted past clues to further our existence, not hasten our destruction."

"I do!"

"You're insane! Whatever hope to save humanity left when Ven died. He might've not been a shining example, neither was your father, but they had the good sense not to toy with the unnatural." Abba watched him stalk out. "Come with me, we're returning you."

"No," the woman cried like a little girl, walking backwards, "I don't want to."

"This isn't a request, Abba." The single-purposed droid came to Tress when he motioned for him. "It is a plea from a concerned friend. Board your droid, we're getting you home."

The look in her eyes was imminent.

Tress sighed as she raced inside the dark facilities.

"She will be okay?"

"That's why we're going in after her, to make sure she is."

**II**. Mid-day, 2000...

"Are you sure you're waterproof?" Hogarth asked as he and the Giant went to the base of a collection of rocks down by the shore. They were a quarter of a mile south of Rockwell.

"Nope." His friend told him happily.

The robot shoved the 40-foot-tall rock pile aside. Hogarth saw that they were cemented

"Where'd ya find the material, pal?"

"Around Maine. We never left more then thirty miles at a time."

" 'We?' "

The Giant gave Hogarth an excited yet hushed look as they entered an underwater cavern. Rock and metal strewn in a sparkling substance made colorful ribbons along the towering walls the robot took him past. The man was not so amazed by the expanse of rock hidden below as he was the glittering limestone that shone green and yellow as they moved along.

"It's beautiful," he remarked.

"It's only one of the best parts." The Giant took him to an opening slightly above his head where a metal pane was embedded in solid green-gray rock. "I brought this back with me from a hotel." Hogarth smiled, impressed. "Anytime you want to come here, you can use this. The entrance will open up as a sliding rock door, use the keyboard under the moss."

Hogarth had to look away so the Giant wouldn't see him swipe at his eyes.

"Thanks, pal, that… that really means a lot."

The Giant, however, didn't lose pace.

"I didn't say that was all of it."

As the cavern opened up more – much like the auditorium of 2201 Hogarth had exited – a multitude of iron and metal made up the enormity of the huge space. The walls shot up far over the Giant's head as artwork, inventions of crude to sophisticated design and different piles of pure scrap littered the floor. Hogarth was without words. He looked to the Giant.

"I kept busy."

"I'll say you have." the man said in a stunned voice.

A partially buffed out green town car sat amongst many refurbished vehicles.

"I never moved past figuring out how electrical wiring works, so none of them run."

"You sure as hell knock the socks off of the originals."

"What?"

"Well, there's no way you restored all of these. I mean, they gotta be reproductions…"

The Giant cupped his hips, grabbed the car up in his hand and peeled back a white sheet that was covering the front. He gave his hand an exaggerated bounce as he leaned down to show Hogarth; who folded his arms and shook his head. "I stand corrected my friend."

It was a fresh coat of green paint.

"Come on," the Giant encouraged. "I want to show you how to metal fish."

"This is incredible Giant." Hogarth kept praising as they moved more into the middle where huge piles towered nearly to the robot's shoulders. "You could have just stayed

in the future. You didn't have to come back here." The Giant barely showed any traces

of emotion over this as he scraped back a black BMW's hood and sat him in the front.

"I don't really want to talk about that."

"Sounds good to me," Hogarth compromised, concerned but not wanting to ruin things.

The Giant sighed and dropped back lazily into his large clumps of metal, causing his friend to outright laugh. Hogarth relaxed himself as well, relieving his sore shoulder of the boxed six pack. He slipped his jacket off and, feeling comfortable, unwound the bandages around his arm. This is what he wanted, a goodtime with his best pal. He screwed a small stainless steel bowl with a duck tapped Swiss army knife around his arm stub. His close army pals use to call him Captain Kook, but he had just let it roll off. The feeling of Hogarth's pants around his midsection caused Dean's early accusations to make themselves known. With none of the apprehension he usually had, Hogarth pulled out his shirt and zipped down his pants. When the Giant suddenly turned to him from reaching across the piles he stopped.

Hogarth gave him a sly look and indicated the bottle in his existing hand with a bottle cap opener extending out of the knife. He didn't draw attention to the fact that his shirt was pulled out or that his pants were pulled down. Whether the Giant understood any of this or not didn't show, a warm smile touched his white eyes. "It's good to have you home."

The man smiled back and uncapped his beer bottle.

He then proceeded to snap the button off of his pants. "Let's see some metal fishing." as he toasted his approval the Giant nodded enthusiastically and retrieved a huge metal crane.

Just as Hogarth was finally feeling at home and ready to let everything hang, the stomping of arriving feet froze him in motion. Even as he recovered fast and tried to appear normal when in fact he had been in the process of unwinding, he was still in the throes of worry.

The Giant tried his best to ease the tension.

"It's okay, this is the last part."

Hogarth watched as he stood up and indicated a new giant robot. This mechanical man was not a clone, or even a little different like Pygmy. It was not flashy like the Motorix and yet it was somehow connected to the Giant, Hogarth could feel that. The robot he was shown came more into the light, which Hogarth now saw projected from rod after

rod of fluorescent lighting. The wires, he saw, were exposed along the limestone top.

"The rock doesn't help our metal," the Giant mentioned, oblivious to the dangers of electricity and water. He now turned to the robot who was wrapped in copper cords.

Hogarth noticed the other bronze-ish material that layered it over in patchwork metal.

"She was there when my clones transmuted their metal to me."

" 'She?' "

"Hello, Hogarth," the droid lifted 'her' mandible, "It's been a while."

**III.**

A knock on the door sent little Taylor scurrying over curiously to investigate.

"Taylor Donald Renton, you know better then to answer for strangers."

"Sorry Mom," he backed away.

The thirty-two-year-old mother turned the knob open to reveal a man in his sixties.

"Is John Rice at this residence?"

Her eyes widened.

"No? All right then. Do you know the whereabouts of Jane Smith?"

The woman's eyes grew larger. "Look," she recovered, "If you're an army buddy of-,"

"Hello, Robert." Julianne wheeled herself up to the door.

"Julie." He nodded his head of gray hair.

"Bubbie isn't here." She nodded for Donna-Lee to head back into the living room.

"Well then, I can wait."

For once the good humor was free and clear from the woman's face.

"You will not endanger my family by dragging us back into some future war."

Robert settled her with his own look. "It isn't a war this time, Peaches, it's our existence."

Julianne was all in that moment taken aback, she hadn't heard that name since Gordon had died; from colon cancer, no less. Robert Evans excused himself into the quaint little homey kitchen. Julie's father had funded nearly all of the money he had to build her this big home.

"As I said, our existence is at stake." He studied a peculiar cross-eyed dog oven mitt.

"From commies? I told you," she raised up on her wheelchair's arms. "It's over with."

"That's what your mother said." Robert told her with his eyes down. He glanced up. "I've been doing a lot of undercover work on this case off and on again, Julianne." Once he was sure the family in the other room wasn't listening he went on. "Dimelo had one more plan up his sleeve in case the cyborg project failed, it's a back-up plan to change us all into…"

"Into… what?"

"I can't say. If Sergey Dimelo has his way he could rewrite our time, our history. That is why I have _got _to see Hogarth, I have something to give him. Tell me Julie, where is he?"

"There's just one thing, Rob. How can a dead man doom us all from beyond the grave?"

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	4. Iron Inception

**I. **2231...

Abba made her way through the rolling darkness of the abandoned scientists facilities, the only dispersion was scant amounts of light showing every now and again. She came upon a row of metal doors when suddenly she remembered her crystal lighter. The woman flung her bag around, pulled out a cylinder and pushed down in the center. A noise that was a cross between whistling and chiming filled the air as white light fluttered across the walls.

She smiled big and raised the strobing object to examine the endless expanse of metal. A door marked in her native language read Top Scientists Quarters in bold black beside one of the iron shafts. Abba yearningly ran her fingers along the surface and sighed. Her eyes closed as she pictured her father. It was then that she heard Tress's voice winding around with the silvery tune of her crystal lighter. She quickly pushed the black center down. All musical noise and ivory brilliance left as Abba used her ill-gotten card to enter the room.

"I know you took that entry card from Trina without permission!" His voice was speaking in more then just one set of volumes. Yet, despite it all, she continued to pursue her plans.

The space that spread before her was dimly lit towards the center, creases in the walls let in light from clouds that normally blanketed the sky. Robocity robots had acted to keep all the remaining atmosphere alive, but it still usually remained darkest in the worst parts. The ceiling was visible, a type of tan white material, and cubicles of boring off white Abba had never seen before divided the sprawling room. Flat screens, Abba also saw, were in every open area. Screens were just rumors she had heard about. She had never seen anything at this level of poverty. Feeling increasingly concerned the woman hurried for the back part.

"Gungatung." She read her last name beside a small room with a screen in it.

Delighted that this must have been where her grandfather had worked, Abba entered.

She wasn't sure where to begin.

"I guess you must be sad," the woman prompted the black flat screen. She then walked up and ran her hand along it's side. "You know the Iron Giant? I considered him my father. It is hard to believe, but he left when I was very young to go back to the past where my birth

father lives. You see, Science Screen, we don't know how to make 'birth'. Can you help?"

It didn't reply.

"Are you needing of metal? Do you run by solar or wind power as other things do? You are so old." She stroked it's side again. "Here," Abba pressed her hand down and ran it across a thin row of black dusty keys. "A good… uh-uh-ACHOO!" A musty explosion that spread fast propelled her back into the wall where she caught herself none too soon.

"Backup files… activated." A female voice that sounded like her mother – like Gold – spoke. Abba even said that name "Mother," as it said: "Genetic verification needed." A beam of blue light scanned the room. "Accepted. Operation Android Marketers activated.

Backup plans. Activated. Source of iron needed, memory box needed, Genetic samples of Rockwell Maine, of 1957, needed. Project [pending…] Project [pending…] [Pending…]."

Abba's eyes scanned the glowing floor rapidly for answers until she had it.

This, she lit up excitedly, _this _is what she needed for the continuation of the human race!

"Abba!"

As soon as Tress entered the room, the Ominish [pending…] flashed one more time across the screen. Then, everything went dark. It didn't matter how many times Tress tried to get a reaction from her, Abba knew her ancestors wanted her to do this even if her best friend did not. The man escorted her out of the room. He was unaware of her stewing thoughts.

'An iron source, that is the first thing I will need.'

**II. **2000...

Hogarth was aghast. "Gold? You're… you're alive?"

"She's been with me for almost forty years now," the Giant said.

His equal-sized friend took a few rumbling steps forward. "It's good to see you again."

"I-I don't believe this, how did you survive!.?" Hogarth turned to the Giant. "I was so afraid you had spent all these years by yourself." He walked into the hand she offered.

"It should have been the end of me, but I wasn't about to let him come here alone."

Gold-tinted coat not withstanding, Gold resembled the Giant just as Pygmy and his clones did… except for her eyes. In them was a calmness that was so distinctively maternal and womanly. Her emerald beams seemed so nurturing that he instinctively opened his arms.

"You want a hug?" She said point-blank.

The lack of surprise or emotion in her voice awakened him.

"Uh… uh, no, um, I was just… err, indicating that you've really grown and…"

Gold then turned to the Giant who nodded to her knowingly. She turned to her old friend and used the entirety of her arms to bring Hogarth closer. He stuttered, apologized, tried to explain quickly that he wasn't that strong and that she was bigger now. Hogarth could only brace himself… as she delicately gave him a gentle embrace. He was stalled for time.

But time never stalled for him.

"I'm so glad you're alive." Hogarth told her, laughing nervously.

"As I am glad you are alive, too."

Gold set him down and turned to the Giant, a switch went off and the robot went into an odd care-giving mood Hogarth had only seen from the Giant in his most wiggest times. It was as Gold pulled out what looked like an oil canister from a bronze panel that Hogarth saw the Giant had frozen up on one side of his body; he knew rigor mortis when he saw it.

"Giant, what's happening?" Hogarth went over to place a hand on his friend's ankle.

"He freezes up," Gold sent him a look to stay back. Agitation flared in the man's chest.

"I can see that." He snapped.

The Giant looked upon him in sad acceptance.

"Hey it's all right," Hogarth urged, "You can still show me how to metal fish."

"That will have to be later." Gold expertly applied the oil to different creases and slits. "I do not mean malice, but the oil needs a while to take affect." His eyes flashed up to her in appreciation and she touched his shoulder. This left Hogarth frozen himself, totally alone.

"It's okay Hogarth." The Giant forced himself to speak.

"Please wait my dear."

"I just get sea crust on my rust sometimes." He feebly joked through his stuck mandible.

The soft tone in his deep voice agonized Hogarth's heart.

"I'll see you later Giant."

Forgetting his own age, forgetting his bad leg, forgetting his weight problem and the other aches he had, Hogarth moved for the iron pane fifty-five feet up in the air. The sharpness of moving so fast and pretending that he was younger finally caught up to Hogarth and he stopped himself at the corner of limestone by the open tunnel. When he looked back there was no one but Gold and himself there. She appeared understanding towards their plight.

"He was really looking forward to seeing you, please try to come back."

Hogarth had to make sure his unmade-up mind didn't show.

"I will," he told her. When he turned around again an implausibly placed escalator greeted him. He boarded the rising steps and tried not to touch the sizzling wires. "I will be back."

This time the man meant it honestly.

"You will always have a home here, Hogarth."

Even as he knew she spoke with sincerity, he didn't believe her.

…

There was someone short, thin and in better health then he on Julie's front porch.

"Daniel?" Hogarth used a metal pole he had borrowed without permission to walk up.

"Hogarth?" The voice was aged but not unfamiliar.

"Robert!" He threw the pole aside, all but forgetting his health again, "Where's Taylor? Is her mother still alive? Is Ivan? It's been years, damnit!" Robert caught his arm to stop him.

"She's stable, as Julie told you yesterday. I've lost contact with Trisha and yes, your son is alive." Hogarth's unhealthy habits got the better of him again and he began losing balance.

"This isn't a move, Robert." He promised as the much older man helped steady him.

Robert chuckled a little. "I'm aware of that, Hughes."

"You know if things had gone more smoothly," Hogarth settled down on the third step. "I could have married Taylor. The Giant could have been my best iron man, then my Ivan…"

He stopped short of laughing or mentioning ring bearer.

"I still wish I could give you their aliases." Robert placed a hand on his shoulder. "But you know I can't do that." The look Hogarth gave him told Robert he was right in that regard.

"So you haven't come with my son or Taylor and you can't give me a scrap of info."

"You're a journalist."

"And you know this how?"

"See what you can generalize from unofficial transcripts of Dimelo having a second plan."

Hogarth's eyes grew wide but Robert offered him no proof of his claims.

"I can however give you this." In the waning daylight the man placed a stone in his hand.

"What the hell is this?" Hogarth asked, turning the rough ball of rock around.

"Ironstone. It's the raw material taken from the place in former Russia where Dimelo was able to trick the Soviet scientists, kind of a journey-to-center-of-the-earth type of shit Mr. Hughes, except that in 2000 we still don't have the technology to make a robot. This only leaves you with questions and ponderings, I know. Let's just say I took a detour in 2201 right before I met my niece in Iceland." Hogarth could not speak. He couldn't even think.

Robert, however, was all but unable to give him one last piece of knowledge.

"Maybe you should concentrate on what's in that pretty little house of yours instead of worrying about what's in the past. You've already had your fun. Those kids need you."

He spoke of Donna-Lee and her family, Hogarth knew he did.

"How does a fella upwards of seventy still move like that, Mr. Evans?"

"Exercise, Hogarth, working these old limbs of mine every day researching and such."

With nothing more to say or do, Robert left him for the woods. A minute later headlights switched on in the descending darkness. Hogarth watched as an old-time sixties vehicle of possible dark green or black pulled out onto the road. He looked up and saw the Rockwell lighthouse flicker on automatically before it began to rove – Instead of hopeful he felt lost.

**III**. Portland Maine…

Jane Smith was slowly coming to consciousness, her twitching fingers told the doctors so.

"Okay, Mr. Arnold." Linda the nurse entered the room paralleling mother and son. "Looks like your mom's gonna pull through, she's doing very well this evening. It's 8 O'clock on the dot and you know what that means…" she flipped on the light switch. "It's time for-,"

The room was totally empty.

Only a disheveled bed and a gaping hole in the glass window were there to greet her.

"Amanda!" Linda screeched to her supervising head nurse. "Dear God, someone broke in and stole him!" She continued ranting and raving to the elderly RN who so very patiently worked on her med cart. "Or, or worst! The legends in Rockwell are true. Oh God, I use to live near there. Oh dear God! Maybe the aliens got him, Mandy, maybe the ALIENS-,"

"Did you check outside the window?"

"No."

"Well," Amanda pushed her tiny glasses down so her bored eyes showed. "Please do."

…

Through the thick wall of trees a small figure raced at blinding speed. A glowing stick of blue inscription was held close by. Even as the sound of an alarm rose in the air from the long term care facility, the person moved out of the area in a quick and efficient manner.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	5. A violation of love: pt 1 of 2

**I.**

"I protect her because I love her, not because two gigantic robots asked me to…"

"What exactly do you want us to do?" Adhara asked. She was a blonde lady in her forties.

"Yes, we already have guardians posted at the launch pad entrance in middle Zephyron."

Mossec, a black-haired man with gray around the roots, offered. "We need to get back."

"You know the reason why we do not wish to further populate the earth is because we do not wish to endanger it more." Trina was talking to herself as she paced the empty throne room her niece had always been escorted from. "After Kina's botched cyborg experiment, the unborn Omega children were sentenced to termination. The only two to escape such a terrible fate were Abba and Taylor's daughter. She cannot do this to me." Trina lamented.

"Please my dear." Mossec caught her by the shoulders and shook them. "Stop this."

"We understand your plight," Adhara tried to sympathize with her. "We ourselves at the school are still unaware of how humans are born. An entire generation was lost due to the carelessness of the ones thirty years earlier in the Western Hemisphere, but we cannot…"

She looked to her partner.

"We cannot go searching for the daughter of a legend." The man was less then patient. "I believe he left of his own accord for the past with another droid some time ago when we were still children. Keeping the older population alive for as long as we can, providing our parents what they did not get their entire lives, that is our goal now. You dear," he steered Trina's shoulder around and pointed out at the setting sun. "are not contributing to them."

Adhara offered one last bit of advise before their self-transmuting clones took them away.

"Perhaps you can help us by coming to lower Zephyron, we need all the help we can get."

Trina turned her dark hazel eyes onto the artifact she held in her hand. So much of the past was hidden in the uninhabitable parts of the world, only a few door access cards and some of Abba's old expandable diapers were hidden away in Trina's quarters below the castle. It would seem that yet again Trina's family had failed; whether it be accidentally unleashing a mass of 7000 droids onto the earth, betraying one's family or even just coming to be born.

Trina knew Abba could not be stopped. She was a reflection of treason and failure.

…

"Thank you, Sputnik." The thirty-five-year-old woman smiled up at her guardian droid. "I believe Tress will have difficulty keeping up with that hologram on the Iron Rails, right?"

The droid did not respond to her but merely cocked it's head.

They were in a regularly inhabited part of Middle Zephyron. Fifty-to-sixty-year old nurses, scientists, droid fixers (like Trina), waste cleaners, restaurant owners and even some of the former World Affairs Council members lived here. The décor was modeled after ideas the Giant had heard from Taylor Evans and the elaborate stories of the Victorian era she told.

It was in this part of Zephyron that silent air fans powered an easy life for these people in their brownish-red and yellow-golden brick homes. The interiors had an airstream design while still having a 2201 influence. The parts that looked like they were something out of the eighteen-hundreds were the poled air propulsion systems located inside the basements.

Abba, however, had other things in mind.

"According to the Alpha Scientists records, project Android Marketers lies under these roads." The gleaming ruby red cobblestone made her reconsider what she was doing. A quick sweep of the streets showed that her father's clones were busily shining them. The ones who weren't were inspecting homes or transporting humans by self transmutation. It made Abba sad to see this. "I believe my father would want us all to be equal, he said that even the woman who inspired much of our architecture wanted this. Am I right Sputnik?"

The droid that looked like her father did not answer.

"I want to do this for you," She said in a quiet voice, looking down at her green shoes. "I want to do this for humanity. If we only focus on the past we will not ever have a future."

"Future," Sputnik responded. As dusk settled and the moon and Jupiter appeared faraway as they should, Abba recalled the day Trina had assigned her this droid after the Giant and Gold left to see Hogarth. She raised her hand for him to take it; instead it only bent down.

"Are you ready to go now?" It asked.

Abba sighed softly and boarded it's hand. Tonight she would stay with some old friends.

"I can only hope changing your kind into humans will give me purpose."

The clone carried her off, unaware of itself as a separate entity.

**II.**

Three chili cheese dogs, one large hamburger, two medium fries and a diet cherry limeade from Sonic. A large comfy couch and an empty living room waited to be used to check the new submissions journalists would send for the Chief Editor's approval. God what a night.

Breathing out his last breath of ketchup and salt, Hogarth collapsed onto the long sinking cushions and finished his decent with a dramatic shoulder drop. Transitioning from army life back to being a civilian ten years earlier had been miserable for Hogarth. He felt the effects of it from his head to his toes. Wincing a bit, taking a chance, the man started to unbutton the flannel shirt he had thrown on before his fast food binge. The pressure of hiding so much underneath was starting to get to him as his air pipes fought to function.

Just below his gray-and-blue striped material was a tight, dark green girdle, two sturdy leather belts fastened at the top and bottom as a sort of reinforcement. Hogarth took a moment to let what he had done to himself sink in before he slowly undid the top belt.

There was a little push from the top of the girdle but only a single hump formed. Then Hogarth meticulously used his right hand to undo the tiny knots at the front. Bit by bit white flesh poked up from the deep green strands. Hogarth began to relax more, fairly certain that at twelve-thirty no one was getting up now. He smiled with this new sense of freedom and undid his last belt while feeling fully safe – With that came the real gain.

"Huuuuhhh," Hogarth reclined back, rubbing his large belly, "Finally," he breathed.

Though he still kept his left nub in bandages, he used his arm to draw in his dark gray laptop. Hogarth knew it was dangerous to expose your skin to the warm plastic on it. With the '99 model resting on his soft flesh, he clicked a button and listened to the fan turn on inside. A recent submission from a one-year graduate flashed across his screen.

" 'Recent Modern Day Sightings of the Monster of Rockwell Lake.' " By Amanda Owens.

Hogarth frowned to himself and shook his head as he e-mailed Miss Owens back.

"The lake? The Giant did _not _come out of our lake." He murmured.

Before the man could become saddened by the earlier events of the day, a push against his laptop made him shift his attention to the metal creature trying to occupy his time. Pygmy purposely rubbed against the top of the computer in her cat form and came closer to him.

"Hey Pygmy," Hogarth smiled tiredly, scratching the "feline" behind her mechanical ear.

"Today good?" She asked.

"It could have gone better." He answered as he set the laptop aside.

The robot never craved more in life then just to be loved; she was so simple like the Giant had once been and had never outgrown her demeanor or speech. Whether her eternal little girl personality was a charade, a preference or an unusual inability to mature had not ever been made known to Hogarth. Pygmy never went deeper than her love; she munched on the metal Hogarth told her she could seek out and did what she was told. She waited for him as she always did and never seemed to want more. Even technically being thirty plus years of age and having had time to gain experience, Pygmy couldn't or wouldn't change.

With just her standing on his stomach now Hogarth released a sigh and pulled up on it.

"I've gotta lose weight." He said absently as the meaty flesh overlapped his hands.

Pygmy walked up in contradiction to the top, found a soft place and curled up.

"Oh. Heh," Hogarth stroked her head. "You like my big belly, huh?"

He was so use to her he felt the shift in her mood instantly.

"I know you miss Taylor."

The little ball of metal squeezed tighter and this made Hogarth's heart do so as well.

"We'll see them again," he continued stroking her head, "We saw the Giant. We'll see…"

Finally the memory of the cavern got to him. Hogarth buried his face in his hands.

'What if I never see him again?' He thought.

At the soft sound of his breathy cry, Pygmy rose up on her feet and rubbed against his hands. Hogarth pulled the old plum afghan from the top of the couch and draped the heavy fabric around himself. His goddaughter did the cat stretch before coming closer.

"Love you Hogarth." She said as she went into his arms.

"Love you too, baby."

Some time passed with her settled against his chest, he would stroke her now and again.

"Thanks for loving me, even though I probably don't deserve it." Hogarth said at last.

All he wanted was his family together; Taylor, Ivan, Pygmy, the Giant, Julie…

There was suddenly a shuffling sound at the end of the couch, Hogarth reeled back and felt his defenses go up (again) at the sight of… his great-nephew. The man relaxed then.

Even though it had been long ago Hogarth still could not believe his sister was a forty-five-year-old grandmother. Her grandson, coincidentally named after the girl he'd loved and lost so many years before, was laying with his legs drawn in on the couch's armrest.

Pygmy moved from his arms and pawed over to the little boy. Hogarth was amazed by how much different he was then Tress, and yet somehow Hogarth saw a little of himself in Taylor. The boy had unbridled enthusiasm in the things he did and seemed to have a spark of imagination that for Hogarth had made life in the fifties livable. Pygmy placed her paw on the child's little arm and snuggled up against his chest. Hogarth smiled, seeing her do this was nothing new. A lot of the men had sworn their metal hats had come to life in the middle of the night and cuddled up next to them. Seeing the boy's smile got to Hogarth.

"Okay," he breathed. "Enough emotion for one night."

There was never a time nor place to express one's feelings for too long.

Manually the man got up, folded his blanket four ways and placed it over Taylor. 'Dean,' the name came to him. He started to reach out to stroke the boy's head but stopped just short of his hair. Sighing, Hogarth left them alone and went to the far side of the couch.

He stretched his flannel shirt as far as he could over himself, closed his eyes and took a deep breath before falling asleep. Taylor opened his eyes and saw his great uncle on the other side of the sofa. Grandpa used to call him sport, Grandpa used to play baseball and go fishing with him. That's all Taylor knew and what he knew was that not even his Dad did those things with him. Uncle Garth called him buddy and pal. He had played with him.

Tomorrow Dad had new business back in Portland and Taylor couldn't stay in Rockwell.

…

Pygmy turned to look up at the little boy with curious eyes. It had been so long since she had seen her god brother Ivan. She knew that Hogarth had tried before and had tried hard to go through the proper connections to see Taylor. In fact, Pygmy could still picture what Taylor looked like. She still knew what she sounded like. Time could not touch memories.

Taylor… Taylor…

"Taylor," Pygmy spoke to no one.

The child wiggled around with her in his arms.

"Mom?" he spoke.

"Taylor." Pygmy's voice grew a little higher.

"Yeah…?" His weary voice drifted out. He was responding in his sleep.

"Hogarth." The robot cat pulled Taylor off the armrest.

"Yes?" He asked a little more seriously, his face wrinkled in concentration.

Pygmy pulled the boy clear across the couch as she arrived on top of her godfather. She managed to drag Taylor up with her and Hogarth, in the midst of his slumber, wrapped his arms around both of them and brought them close to him. All three slept peacefully.

**III. – **The out limits of Rockwell.

"I won't fail you mother," A boyish figure walked straight into town. He had a head of brown-ish blonde hair and eyes the color of midnight blue. "I will journey to the future and retrieve the memory box to save you." His name was Ivan Grant Evans and his one goal in life was to keep his mother's spirit and body alive. He was a physical time bridge.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	6. A violation of love: pt 2 of 2

_~ So just close your eyes_  
><em>Oh, honey here comes a lullaby<em>  
><em>Your very own lullaby<em>  
><em>Oh, honey here comes a lullaby<em>  
><em>Your very own lullaby ~<em>

- Nickelback, Lullaby.

**I**. Rockwell, before dawn…

There was a scratch at the window. Taylor awoke instantly and popped his head up. A cat silhouette stood with pointed ears looking out at the front yard. The little boy remembered seeing Pygmy turn from a giant robot into a robot kitty two days earlier; his mom and dad had been too busy yelling and demanding that someone get Jean down to notice the event.

"Pygmy?" The child asked.

Uncle Garth lay with his head bobbed back, snoring loudly.

" 'Scuse me." Taylor said as he slipped off the sleeping man.

"Oof!" He grunted briefly.

Pygmy was completely occupied with whatever was outside.

"What's a matter, girl? You wanna go outside?"

Mittens had been that way… before Dad had taken her to the pound.

" 'I'm running a firm here, guys. Not a zoo. You want a kitty? Go get a job.' "

Taylor innocently wandered up to the door and stood on his tiptoes to unlatch the lock.

"There ya go," he said. "You're free now."

Pygmy pawed up to the entrance and gave him a long look. The little brown-haired boy stopped being so cheery at the emotion in the robot's yellow eyes. There was something she had to do and it looked as though she didn't want to do it alone. Maybe, Taylor had the sudden thought, she did not even know what it was. The boy made a quick decision.

"Hold on." He went over to grab the big blanket from the sofa, pull it around himself, then slip his shoes on and head for the robot cat. "I'll come with you." Pygmy didn't protest, it seemed she was genuinely happy to have the boy accompany her. They both left together.

"Taylor?" Jean walked into the living room rubbing his eyes. "Is that you? Mom said we-,"

There was no one there.

"Taylor?" He looked around, saw one of his brother's socks lying on top of the couch and saw the door hanging open. "Oh God." The eleven-year-old rushed to take a peek outside.

He watched as a yellow light filled the area like it had on Saturday. Pygmy was back.

She had his brother in her hand.

"Oh my God… MOM'S GONNA KILL ME!"

Hogarth jolted awake as the door slapped shut.

"Huh? What?" He looked up at the sight of Jean running across the porch.

The family was going early.

"Huh!" Hogarth rolled his eyes. "Good riddance." he went back to sleep.

Work wasn't for three more hours.

…

A figure lingered down by the rocky shore, waiting. This was what Ivan Grant was meant to do, he had to save his mother by traveling to the future._ The car crash,_ Nurse Linda's words rang in his head. _She'll lose her memory._The thirty-five-year-old man recounted everything he had ever heard. Every doctor his mother had taken him to for his 'disease'.

'Mom refused to call it that. She said I was just born old.'

The stomps of the one his mother had talked about signaled his wait's end.

"Pygmy." Ivan turned to the droid he was bonded to at birth. The purple-paneled female automaton journeyed down the cliff toward him. "You received my thoughts. I called to you." he eyed the young boy riding in her hand. "Is he with you? He may come with us."

"Who are you?" Jean arrived to find his brother, Pygmy and another boy beside the sea.

This "boy" was unlike any child the preteen had ever seen. Wrinkles edged along his eyes and cheeks. His medium brown hair was short and looked almost as if it were fashioned as a buzz cut. The clothing he wore looked as though it were made for an old man; a tannish cream corduroy suit, a pink shirt and white slip-on suede shoes. He also had a silver cane.

"You look like an old man."

Taylor giggled at his brother's bluntness.

"I am. Recently I was called to action to complete my function, this in turn caused my age to reflect that of a child's as I was born old. You must know my father, Hogarth Hughes?"

" 'Hughes?' Well, my uncle's name is John Garth Rice. Don't know a _Hogarth _though."

"Mommy was talking to a man about John Rice, Jean. Someone named Jane Smith too."

"That is my mother, her real name is Taylor Evans. She is in desperate need of my help."

"Wow," the oldest brother came closer. "I know if that was our mom I'd be wrecked."

"We gotta help'im Jean. Please?"

"Pygmy?" He looked up at his older acquaintance.

She nodded with a smile in her eyes.

"Okay, I'm in. So where are we going?" He turned to his newest one.

"To the future." Ivan held his cane out in front of him and the inscription on it lit blue.

"Uh… I don't think Mom would like that!"

"Yay! The future!" Taylor exclaimed joyfully.

The four dissolved into a haze of azure before dispelling into the jagged line of purple in the sky where the cane had hit it. A motorcycle swerved to a stop at a line of trees right beside the road. Dean McCoppin pulled his helmet off as his great-grandsons left 2000.

"Not again," he said.

**II**. – Back at Julianne's house, morning…

A woman screamed. Hogarth immediately bolted out from under… nothing. He saw then that he was completely exposed. His flesh was hanging out from between the flaps of his shirt and the blanket he had covered Taylor with was gone. In fact, both boys were gone.

Their mother was there, however.

"Where are they!.?" And so was their father.

"You lost your own kids!" Hogarth stood up to face the younger man.

"Look at you." Joe Renton gave him the once over. "You're butt naked!"

"Oh, it's buck naked you idiot. And listen here-,"

"Where's my sons!.?" Donna-Lee screamed at the top of her lungs again.

"Donna, please." Joe placed his hand on her shoulder, she quivered in her black stilettos.

"What is going on out here?" Julianne rolled herself into the living room.

"My sons are gone…" her daughter whined as tears pooled in her eyes. "My little boys!"

"You better start explaining pal." Joe pressed forward.

"Hogarth, what on earth is going on? Where are my grandchildren?"

"I want my sons…"

"Bubbie, tell me. Where are they?"

"My little boys!"

Hogarth looked back and forth.

"Well don't just stand there, say something!" His sister started to raise her voice.

"My little pumpkins!"

"I want some answers." Joe thumped his uncle-in-law in the shoulders.

"Look there," Donna-Lee pointed to a Scooby-Doo sock. "I bet he kidnapped them!"

"ENOUGH!" Hogarth hollered at all of them.

Donna-Lee retreated behind her husband and Julianne merely stared up at him in shock.

"Please tell me they weren't right about you." She spoke.

The moment Julie said that Hogarth knew what she meant; the townspeople. While good ol' IG still stood as a symbol of heroic folklore amidst the older citizens and a mysterious force of untold fable for the younger generations, Hogarth was long gone. So was Garth.

"I-," He stared down at himself and saw who he was, or at least, what he had turned into.

He was old, he was overweight… he was a has been.

Julianne seemed to realize this too. "Bubbie."

"Get out of here you old pervert! You-you monster! Get out before we call the cops!"

After this final outburst Donna-Lee was out of words and full of tears.

As Joe turned to comfort his wife, Hogarth turned with a silent plea to his sister.

"It's probably best you go," she said in a soft voice.

Now Hogarth was stunned.

"Wh-what did you say?"

Julianne met her daughter's eyes, they were wet and resolute.

"It's best you go, Hogarth." This time she wouldn't look at anyone.

"I-I see." He didn't know what else to say. The man collected his laptop, made sure the bump of his keys stuck out in his pocket and headed for the door slowly. "G'bye Sissy."

"Damn pervert," Donna-Lee continued to sob. "No wonder his shirt's open! Look at the belts, that… that green sex toy thing." Hogarth froze at the door. "He probably slept with my boys." Mortification rolled over him in waves. No one stopped her. "Get out of here."

"Donna-Lee…" Joe suddenly tried reasoning with her.

"Pedophile!"

Hogarth slapped the door shut.

…

His eyes stung. Thrice these last two days Hogarth had been on the verge of crying. How long had it been since the last time that had happened? When he and his goddaughter had been forcibly ripped apart from Taylor and Ivan. This thought led to another: The Giant.

At the city limits of Rockwell Hogarth stopped short. He felt the heaviness of leaving his friend weigh down on him. The Giant and Gold had opened their home and hearts to him. They had invited him back even after he had screwed up and ruined the reunion. That was more then could be said for the rest of his _family_. Hogarth covered his face and breathed.

"I'm not leavin' my buddy behind," he decided. The man then looked back and reversed the rental car he had gotten in Ashmore. "Pygmy, we're gonna ask your pop and Gold to come with us. What do you think about that?" his hand reached out to touch the bump he knew was Pygmy under his jacket. But it wasn't. The object was _his_ pop's antique helmet.

"Good God." Hogarth yanked the material back. "Pygmy? Sweetie?"

The one thing he couldn't live without was gone.

Rattled, the man threw the door of his '96 Sunfire open and stumbled out backwards. He was done. He couldn't take it anymore. Hogarth grasped his head as tears trickled from his eyes before he lunged back to scream at the sky. A towering presence instantly came.

"Hogarth." Gold said calmly.

It was too calm.

"You did this!" He pointed out in accusation.

The droid was blank-eyed as she stood solid bronze and copper between the trees.

"You took Pygmy, didn't you? And my little nephews. Holy hell, when I get done with you you're going to be the one screaming in agony." She started to back away from him.

"Hogarth, please." Worry now shone in her eyes.

"Please? Please WHAT? Go easy on you? YOU STOLE MY BEST FRIEND!"

Gold stopped.

Hogarth glanced over to the left of the trees.

The Giant stood with his mouth agape.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	7. Pieces and parts

**Definition - **Zephyr: A gentle breeze. An air current. The Greek God of the West Wind.

**I. **– Rockwell Maine, 2231...

"Not bad, give him a little more encouragement." Tress said to his apprentices.

At age thirty-nine, the two students were only three years younger than their teacher.

"Come on, Acropolis 178." One of the men said. "Inhale the air, fill it in and expand out."

The crude but somewhat intelligible machine blinked it's white eyes and tried again. Thick bulbs of rubber once used as plungers filled with air as the four-legged creature tried hard to breathe… to live. Unable to sustain it's life-force, the old headlights fizzled out and the poor robot collapsed to the ground like a weak colt. Tress dropped his green shoulders in defeat. This was what they did in their free time and they never saw much of that anyway.

"I'm sorry, boys."

The man who had encouraged the droid gave a shrug. He was dirty and missing a tooth.

"Do not be," the former antique caretaker smiled at him.

"Yes, we work all day with finding new ways to make air-efficient droids." The taller of the two swaggered up to Acropolis 178 and gave it a nice pat. "It is unfortunate we were demoted to school," his smile revealed five missing teeth. "I miss the beer, experimenting with the antiques to create fun things and finding out how to make human children. Heh, old Garth never did teach us how to make… sex, as he called it. But the nose and ear…"

"What in Upper Zephyron's good name are you three delinquents doing!.?"

"Hello, Mossec." Tress greeted wearily.

His students went to work dragging their leg-buckled creation back to it's gallery.

"You can play with the antiques when you are aged sixty-five, now what are you doing?"

"Mossec, everyone is at their stations, the food regenerator is working, my job is-,"

"Your _career _is to teach new students on how to make and maintenance objects to help extend our elders lives, not play around and act as children do. Why do you think we do not wish to have more? They are reckless, mindless creatures! Need I keep saying this?"

"For your knowledge, Mossec," Tress walked up to where the man stared down from one of the makeshift metal huts they worked and lived in "I was escorting the Mistress of Time home from Middle Zephyron on the Iron Rails. Excuse me if I find helping her important."

"Mistress of Time and all that rubbish. She is adequate with holograms, you moron."

Tress's eyes widened as the older man started scrutinizing him.

"As it stands, young one, Miss Abba Gungatung is a caper to our way of life. Just as her mother was a traitor and her grandfather was a failure… not to mention her pariah of a father. We have the Giant's clones off duty from helping Middle Zephyron citizens and guarding the rumored Android Marketers project lying beneath it. We also have word

that the Keeper is coming, he will bring the memory box and raw ironstone with him."

"I-I, Ironstone?"

"Next to iron ore, found in the Earth's crust, the Keeper has obtained ironstone which-,"

"The Keeper? The rumors… he is, he is Hogarth's son. That means, Hogarth is coming."

"Do you think this is a game, Tress? Can you imagine, nay, _decipher _the consequences

if the naïve Gungatung girl goes through with this hidden plan which traces back to the mid-twentieth century that was formulated by an evil, horrible man. Can you imagine it?"

Tress could not.

"Only a few select know, Tress, and now you are one of them. I will keep you updated."

Mossec pulled open a can opener handle to an aluminum door and stepped inside. Once he had left the blonde-haired man tried to recoup from this startling news. Just as reality was about to fold over and collapse on him a spark of purple out in the distance caught his eye.

Reminiscent of when Hogarth and the Giant had left to stop Kina, the same zigzag of what Tress now knew was a wormhole formed in the sky. The power of Time rammed into the engineer and maintenance man, forcing Tress back in a strong gale which started churning the gray wisps of cloud over the clear sea. This sent him into a state of panic. He went to duck behind a half-buried tire tractor just as three youthful figures and a Giant clone came hurtling out of the wormhole. Tress barely had time to rub his eyes as they hurtled at him.

"AH!"

He jumped away from the tire and cleared a path just as the robot did a bouncy landing.

…

"Taylor!"

"Jean!"

"TAYLOR!"

"JEAN!"

Two giant hands tried to grab them but it was a sphere of solid blue that rolled them to a safe location. The brothers watched as Ivan scrunched his eyes closed and stirred them all with his shiny pole. Then like a Lightsaber the twin beams receded inward a'la Star Wars.

"How'd ya do that Ivan?" Taylor whispered, amazed.

"I was developed as a back-up program to the cyborg project Kina Gungatung created. As it is I will require frequent traveling to reach her and my father's other child, Abba. She is the Mistress of Time, a code name Kina used inspired by my mother." He noticed dirt was on his jacket and tried shaking it off; it stayed. "I am not aware if she holds knowledge of the memory box or Ironstone, but only someone from Kina's genetic trace could awaken me from my hibernation." Ivan looked at the perplexed boys. "Do you not comprehend?"

"Compre…?" Jean shook his head and approached the odd manchild. "I don't really get what you're trying to say." he peered over at a nervous looking Taylor. "You're the son of Uncle Garth… but, he has another kid named Abba? You're not making sense Ivan."

"Logic of this intricacy eludes you," Ivan concluded. "Pygmy." The purple droid walked up to the one she had been separated from for years. "Can you help me locate my sister?"

"Our sister?" She prompted.

"Do not be absurd." The man with the appearance of a nine-year-old walked up to where two junk piles flanked him. "A droid and a human cannot be brothers or sisters. It is in my blueprints, in my blood," he slipped his jacket off as well as his silk shirt. Veins connected like dots at pinpoints across his entire upper body. Taylor gasped. "I exist for blueprints."

Jean eyed his frightened brother and then gave Ivan a suspicious look. "For… what?"

"For the Android Marketers project. I exist only as a foundation and to save my mother."

When he said this there was no emotion. He then walked on through the junk piles.

The brothers looked at each other, up at a confused Pygmy, then ran after their guide.

"Droids and humans… cannot be family?"

She could only follow Jean and Taylor as they followed Ivan.

…

Tress walked out from behind the destroyed hut in a state of disbelief.

"Well," Someone grabbed his shoulder and thrust him forward. "Do not just stand there."

Mossec motioned for his personal Giant clone to approach them.

"Take Rocard and track the children down, I want to know what they will do next."

As the salt-and-pepper-haired man turned to leave Tress gave a few departing words of his own. "Hogarth's son isn't right, you know. Droids and humans can be a family unit."

To his surprise the head teacher actually stopped to consider this.

"Pieces and parts may make us similar… but a unit we will never be, Tress. Nor a family."

**II. **Same place, 2000...

The scene was one of undeniable tension. Hogarth watched as the Giant stomped up to stand in front of him. His big eyes never left the man as he gazed upon him with a look

of surprise. This could not happen. Hogarth couldn't lose Julie, Pygmy _and_ his best pal.

This couldn't happen!

When he spoke Hogarth was wild with fear. "Giant, I-I can explain…I just… I just…"

There was nothing to explain, he was a fat, hysterical old drifter.

His friend bent down from his enormous height and engulfed the frightened man in his hands, resting his thumbs gently on his shoulders. "It's all right. Please, don't be afraid."

Hogarth felt blood heat his face as he realized not only was he not in trouble but that he was wrong to think the Giant would ever turn against him. Tears came to his eyes again but didn't escape as he pressed the Giant's finger to his cheek and met his eyes placidly.

"Thanks pal." He whispered.

The Giant was calm but still concerned. "Pygmy and your nephews are missing?"

"Yes. Gold, I'm sorry I-,"

"Your apologies are not relevant to finding our family," she said curtly.

" '_Our_?' "

"Well you didn't think I was going to let my great grandsons out of my sight, did you?"

Dean, dressed in his old leather jacket, a white T-shirt and dark denim jeans, walked up to them with his cane's help. The relief of seeing his stepfather out of his ridiculous business clothes was short lived. Dean, however, held up his hand and explained what he had seen:

"They're in the future."

"Oh, not again!" Hogarth thumped his forehead and waved up at the sky. "Damn Robert Evans came by here, gave me this piece of… um," he checked his pocket. "Rock of iron."

Dean shrugged at his stepson's inquiring look. "Looks like tiger iron."

"Hogarth." Gold reached down and took the rock from his hand. "Did Robert mention anything else to you?" When he said no she asked the Giant to retrieve his memory box.

"It's been inactive for years, Golden." He pulled the corrugated purple cube out of his iron and gave it to her. "I thought I saved all the memory imprints but it never turned back on."

She studied it. "That's because there was never any memory imprints in it to begin with. I will admit to knowing about this devise, but gentlemen, memory wiping didn't exist then."

"Huh, that figures." Hogarth commented. He and the Giant shared a knowing look.

"What about memory wiping for droids?" the male bot asked her.

"Yes, our memories can be wiped clean." There was no emotion in Gold's voice.

Dean suddenly held his hand up for hers, palm showing. She turned perplexed.

"Do I have to hug him too?"

"Let me see that stone." Gold fingered it in his hand and Dean held onto her fingers.

"McCoppin?"

He kissed her faded gild tips. The Giant blinked. Dean looked pleased.

"Frankenbot finally found a bride," He whispered to Hogarth out of the side of his mouth.

"You're one to talk, Dean." He grinned, also whispering. "You haven't dated in years."

"Speak for yourself, big man."

"Right back at ya, Gramps."

Gold merely pulled her hand away in confusion as the old man examined the stone.

"This tiger iron has hematite in it. I've heard that it can help with healing, thinking, weight loss," he looked directly at Hogarth who scowled. "It can promote peace, boost memory."

"You're a little too into Eastern culture, McCoppin."

"He has a point though." The Giant looked at Gold expectantly.

"It does not have anything to do with boosting memory, that is the Giant's original iron."

"So we're gonna have to go back to the future," Hogarth turned to the east.

"No Delorean or nothin'." Dean walked with him through trees and then on to the shore.

"I do not understand them," Gold caught the Giant's arm as he followed. "A 'Delorean?' "

"I don't pretend to understand them either, but they're my friends. They'll explain it to me if I ask them." He told her happily and left her to be by herself as he usually did, instead he came to be beside Hogarth. He now looked down at him and held out his hand. "Friends?"

Hogarth gazed up at him fondly and smiled. "The best of friends." he let the robot encircle his rusty fingers around his bandaged nub. Gold, meanwhile, lagged behind them. With the utmost courtesy, the Giant bowed back. Dean pretended to be interested in the tide swells.

"Gold, you were right when you said that we're a family and I'm sorry that I accused you when I had no grounds to do such a thing. It was wrong of me to mistreat you like I did."

"Well," She backed away. "I'd better stay here with McCoppin."

"Dean," the sidetracked man said.

"Gold, we want you to come with us." Hogarth urged.

"You know I need you," The Giant added softly.

"Take this." She placed the oil canister from yesterday and a funnel in his hand. There was only the slightest hint of agitation in her voice. "Hogarth can help you now, instruct him."

"Gold…" They both tried to argue further with her when the Giant suddenly noticed Dean had dropped the ironstone and picked it up from the ground. He gave her a look of appeal.

Hogarth voiced his friend's thoughts. "You're an important part of the Giant's life and-,"

"Hogarth." Dean's voice was suddenly serious.

"Not now Dean." He waved at his stepfather in dismissal.

"HOGARTH!" The Giant's voice boomed out like a bomb going off.

In the blind haze of purple Gold somehow managed to snatch Dean up and make for the road. Hogarth and the Giant's eyes snapped to meet one another's as they were forcibly drawn in by the lit ironstone; the light it gave off came from the now active memory box.

…

Julianne looked up at her daughter from the photo album resting on her checkered dress.

"Maybe they were right…" Donna-Lee rambled as she paced. "Maybe there _are_ aliens."

"Break out the tin foil hats then, dear."

"Shut up Mom." The blonde woman snapped at her mother's dry wit.

She paused then. Maybe mother and daughter didn't always see eye-to-eye but they loved each other, Julie brushed off the wrinkles of her white doily dress front and patted the side of her wheelchair for Donna-Lee to sit down on. Sniffling like a small child, she complied.

It was quite a sight, a woman in a shoulder-padded red work suit sitting with her mother wearing a dress straight out of the sixties. "Joe is doing all he can. They'll have a search party going and everything, hon." Julianne reached up to stroke her daughter's hair back.

The pouting red lips and ivory, heart-shaped face were so much like her own mother's. It was the brown eyes that were clearly Julie's father's and the overt slimness of her figure in comparison to Annie's hour glass shape that held Donna-Lee back from true resemblance.

Then there was her hair, that pretty, bushy angel hair…

It was the right texture, wrong color.

"You're going to try to convince me Uncle Garth is a good guy, aren't you?"

"No," Julie stroked Donna-Lee's damp cheek. "I'll let you decide that for yourself."

For once her daughter didn't argue further and instead leaned into her mother.

"I'm going to tell you what I know. What I don't know I'm going to let fate and time tell us." She opened the first page of her personalized album. "You'll see here from letters I received from my brother and pictures I've taken over time what life was really like in Rockwell before you were born… when the Iron Giant legends began." Julianne knew Donna-Lee did not believe these stories either. "I guess you can say that before your Uncle Garth arrived back in town, we all experienced temporary memory loss attributed to a memory erasing device. I, myself, believe that it was the refusal or the inability to accept the past and the events and consequences that transpired from it. To conquer or merely to tolerate what we've done and what has happened to us takes a great courage, Donna-Lee. The only way one can achieve this is by facing down their demons. In essence, their past."

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	8. An Automotan's Autobiography: Pt 1 of 2

[ _Memory box collecting imprints (of) Rockwell citizens (and) army soldiers, 1957 _… ]

**I – **On a roadside in Rockwell, 1972...

A girl of fourteen with pink flowers braided along one side of her dark hair made her way down a curving bend towards the sea shore with the aid of her crutches. She was wearing a cotton candy-colored dress and her best white shoes; they still fit her from when she was seven-years-old. The rubber ends of the crutches squeaked loud and sounded harsh to her ear in comparison to the robins and sparrows singing merrily as they built their love nests.

This sweet, happy sound made her gasp in sadness.

"Daddy…" She whispered as tears rolled down her cheeks, "Mama."

How many times would she have to attend another wedding?

An engine roared.

The girl snapped her head up in surprise and turned as a young man riding a motorcycle cut close to the curb. He weaved and bobbed dangerously before he spotted her under his visor and came to a skidding halt with his back tire. When he cut the engine off she froze.

He was older. At least seventeen. The biker pulled his helmet off and shook his straggly blonde hair out. "You goin' my way?" She said nothing and he laughed. "That a 'no' ?"

"No."

His good humor waned.

"I'm sure I'm not going your way."

"You Mr. McCoppin's daughter? Juliet?"

"Julianne." She corrected, twisting on her crutches uncomfortably.

"No Romeo to sweep you off your feet, huh?" He grinned.

"No," Julianne smiled a little. "I guess not."

"Well… Julie. How 'bout I give you a ride?" The boy held out his helmet.

She blinked once and shook her head. "No, sorry." Julie fully prepared for him to be a jerk and try to press her for a date or sex like they all did. "I'm going to the sea shore, um…?"

"Don." He wheeled his bike alongside her, unhurried. "Donald Lee Richardson."

"Okay, Donald Lee Richardson." Julianne turned to look him in the eye and stopped. Not since her mother had she seen eyes this green. There was no brown in them, only emerald.

Once Don saw he had hit a chord he smiled at her. He had a sun kissed tan and the white of his teeth gleamed along with the brightness of his eyes even as the sun only appeared in tosses of light through out now wind blown trees. A storm was coming up from the coast.

"How about that ride?" He waited just a second and then placed the helmet in her hands.

"I… guess I could go for a ride. Why don't we just skip the beach altogether?"

Donald laughed a second time as he pulled her gently over his bike.

"What? What did I say?" She was smiling but confused.

"Your 'I' just turned into a 'we'."

…

"So you've only been in town several days?"

"Long enough to get to know the townspeople, they're real friendly to outsiders."

Julianne turned to Don from the clearing they both lay in.

"Come on, Juil." When he said this new nickname for her, the girl frowned.

"Julie? Julianne? Julia? I know you've been around bikes before. How old was he?"

"You're the oldest boy I've hung out with," She looked away as clouds gathered. "I don't think I should go into that. We've only known each other for thirty minutes Donald Lee."

Don sprawled his arms behind his head and tilted his chin back. "Long enough."

She laughed. Julianne laughed so loud and hard that it felt foreign for her to do so.

"So what?" They both turned to look at each other. "Did he go to Nam?"

Sadness returned to the girl's eyes and she found herself nodding slowly. "Yes, Nam."

"He alive?"

"He's my brother." She really didn't want to tell Don that she had first thought it was Hoggie. That would have been embarrassing. But somehow, she felt he already knew.

"So your brother's in the service." Masculine fingers that should have been reaching for a woman's face found Julianne's cheek and turned her head. "Let me show my patriotism."

He kissed her. It was her first and it was deep… _deeper_… too deep.

What they did then mirrored Julie's mother, Annie. It mirrored Hogarth. Both had been young. Both had birthed children young. In the back of her mind Julianne knew she was going to become like them, a mother so young. She was going to be a mother at fifteen.

'Nine months,' The thought came and Julianne embraced it.

Rain fell from the dark gray clouds above, sheeting the forest in a downpour. As the two teenagers moved as one across the drenched grass, an uprooted pine tree on the left and a huge boulder on the right seemed to shield them off. It was as if these objects were vigils.

**II. – **The Loring Air Force Base, 1951...

"Come on Mommy!"

The black shoes of a four-year-old boy ran across a small sandbank in Limestone Maine. His mother chased after him, laughing and panting as she called out his name. He jumped onto a swing set and spread out his arms like he was Peter Pan. He asked Wendy to push.

"Ha ha!" She instead scooped him up and planted his little feet on top of the black rubber.

"Mommy," the boy bent down and moved back as she climbed onto the swing. "Let go."

"No." She was smiling devilishly as she rocked with her son. "I want to swing too."

"You're old!"

"Well, you're young." The woman threw her head back as she swung back and forth with her son. They moved as one together, matching the tide as it rolled in and out. "Did I ever tell you how I came up with your name? It was after you were born, I wanted to name you after my father, Garth, and _your_ father brought me a Ho Ho when I wanted a Ding Dong."

"Twinkie!" He argued happily as he pushed himself up and down inside the swing.

"Ha-ha! Twinkie Hogarth Hughes!"

"Ding-Dong Mom!"

Mother and son continued to swing back and forth even as the day came to an end.

**III. ** – May 15th 1964...

It was mid-May, or at least that's what people told him when he asked. Julianne kept quiet now. She never talked. Occasionally she would look at her daddy but the look in her eyes, on the rare times Dean did move to look in them, was silent and accepting. For the briefest of moments the man would know how Hogarth had felt. He could never quite connect on his stepson's wave of feeling for the Giant. Sure, he loved the big lug. But that silence in the eyes, that acceptance, that maturity even in innocence somehow made tears come to his eyes. Dean realized then that he and Julie were looking at each other. He was crying.

"It's okay, Daddy." Her voice cracked as she reached for him.

It was Julie, not Dean, who did the hugging and consoling.

They both looked up to see a porcelain cheek that even Snow White would envy. Blush of the reddest apples and the most unnatural appearance circled the cheek. The one eye Dean and Julie could see was a mist of blue eye shadow that sparkled under the poor lighting. A bountiful selection of red and pink roses were resting in the woman's beautiful, thin hands.

"Mama's an angel," Julianne whispered.

"Yes," Dean also whispered, "She most certainly is."

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	9. An Automotan's Autobiography: Pt 2 of 2

**I – **2231, Lower Zephyron…

They fell into what Hogarth saw was a jagged gorge. The Giant wrapped his hand around his friend, who had tucked the ironstone into his camouflage backpack, and thrust himself at the wall. With all his strength the robot jammed his fingers into the stone before finally, miraculously, coming to a back cracking halt on an enormous ledge center. Hogarth tried to grasp onto the Giant's curved fingers but his missing hand caused him to lose his grip.

"Hogarth." Like a snake strike, the robot snagged him back up just as he fell.

All of this effort was too much. The Giant placed Hogarth on his chest and dropped his head. They laid there for a minute or two, it was such a far cry from when they both had first gone to the future some thirty years earlier. Hogarth peered up at the Giant, he was just as over the hill as himself. The man was then burdened with their unknown mission.

"Are my nephews all right here? Is Pygmy going to be able to take care of them?"

The Giant regained just enough strength to raise his head. "They'll be fine, Hogarth. This is Rockwell and it's the same wormhole I entered through when I…" he could not finish.

Hogarth knew the Giant had underlying issues.

"It's okay, pal. We'll get a fresh start soon."

Both collapsed back. That fresh start was going to have to wait. Not long after the friends had settled, Hogarth peered back up, saw his pal was as still as a statue and pulled his shirt out of the suspenders he had thrown on before 'leaving town'. As his gut bulged out like a balloon, Hogarth placed his hands behind his head. The Giant did this also but on his chest with a sigh. They lounged back for a while before Hogarth asked if they should get going.

"Yes."

"Do you want to go?"

"Nope."

The Giant had a smile in his eyes as he tried to raise his head again. "Do you?"

"Nope."

Now they both tried getting up but ended up flopping back.

"Hogarth…" The left side of the Giant became stiff. "I can't move."

"Hold on." He shifted his girth and readjusted himself. Now that he was without shielding Hogarth was forced to look at his body. It was unsettling. "Okay pal, here's the deal." He pulled out the funnel and oil canister stuck on the side loops of his suspenders. "You can't stay still for very long or we're going to be fully encumbered." He sensed there was more.

"Hogarth…" The Giant met his eyes sadly. "None of my powers work. My feet boosters are dead, my repair signal is jammed, I can't produce force fields…" He stopped talking then and lifted his friend up to oil his mandible, then his shoulder and under his rib cage.

"Better?" Hogarth reached wide to place his hands on his hips. The Giant turned from grateful to confused. "You're gettin' old, pal." He smiled grimly. "Gotta keep movin' ."

"The Giant?"

They both turned to look up at a man in a green suit with gray and white hair.

"Um…" Hogarth messed with his comb over. "Can we help you?"

"I-I don't believe this! The original of the 7000 Giant clones is back with-with?"

"Garth Hughes."

"GARTH HUGHES! The one who was incriminated! The arch foe of the Iron Giant!"

Hogarth slipped the Giant a devious smile to which he was given a stern look in response.

The man groaned. "You never let me have any fun, even thirty years later."

"We need two of my clones." Hogarth was surprised by his request. "I hope that the Iron Rails are finished now." The stricken man nodded. "We'll need a southbound one please."

"Some of your clones survived?"

Just as two robots completely identical to Hogarth jetted down by their rocket feet, there was an odd purple ray that hit the two friends. [Memory imprints.] Came the same voice from thirty years earlier out of the memory box as the clones helped the Giant out of the gorge. Both he and Hogarth were scanned. [Imprints… seeking. Scanning… Retrieving.]

With the sight of the glowing stone and memory box, the green-suited man fainted.

"Hogarth."

"Yeah?"

"I think your nephews and Pygmy may be trying to find Abba, or at least Pygmy is."

[Imprint five...]

"Well, ignoring whatever the hell this shit is doing, what is this Iron train going to be for?"

"The shit." He indicated the memory box and ironstone with his white eyes.

"Oh. You're putting them on the Iron Rails thing to protect them. Got it."

[Scanning…]

…

It was the second night after Robocity Japan had been restored to breathable air, both being as exhausted as they were the two landed backwards against two gray rocks of appropriate height. The Giant noticed Hogarth was nearly passed out and let the teen

fall sideways into his hand. He then placed him on top of the large stone he had made

his bed on and started to lay down. " 'It'll be like bunk beds, but _I _get the top one.' "

Hogarth then had gone on to mention that the only reason he hadn't ever gotten one was because he'd never had a brother. Remembering this, the Giant examined his stony hide.

He was so used to being able to pick up small things with his iron fingers, now the Giant could barely even pick up his best friend without fear of crushing him into a grainy pulp.

He still hadn't moved when Hogarth peered over at him.

"Could I… stay a while?"

He received a welcoming smile in return. "Su rock es me rock."

Happily the Giant folded his enormous arms on the space between the edge of what was essentially the same material that covered him, and Hogarth. The night extended

out in it's starscape as they both settled in under it. Hogarth had one last thing to say:

"You'll always be my buddy, Giant." He patted his arm. "No matter how big you get."

**II. – **The outer limits of lower Zephyron…

"I believe we're drawing nearer, the markings on my body are tingling."

Pygmy had flied them in her transmuted saucer form for nearly an hour before they reached the end of the sprawling piles of scrap metal. From his spot on the lavender

seats that span nearly all around the insides, Ivan watched as the brothers slept in a

heap on the other side of Pygmy. The youngest had cried himself to sleep while the

oldest had held and consoled him. Ivan Grant shook his head and turned to Pygmy.

"Are we almost there?" He asked her strobe figure.

"Can I rest?" She answered in a small voice.

"We need to locate my sister and save my mother, don't you know that!.?"

Pygmy receded back into her programming, away from his angered face and voice.

"Who's yelling?" Taylor asked groggily as he reached his arms up and stretched.

"Can we go home now?" Jean was past the whole future trip. "We got school Ivan."

"Public education can wait." He raised his shining cane, it caught a gleam from the sun sparkling on the ocean in early morning, and thrust it into Pygmy's outlined image. The boys' predictably hollered and argued as he turned the cane and her red and blue inside wiring became entangled along the marks of the cane. "As of now I am taking control."

Pygmy tried to fight his hold but couldn't. He wouldn't stop even as she pled.

It was just like before, when she had been younger.

A purple light that was darker then her color hit them from behind.

[Scanning all droid 7000 clones [for] memory setting [for] project Android Marketers…]

…

It was 1968.

"You can't go…" Pygmy cried.

Taylor reached out for her and held onto her mandible. "I'm sorry, sweetie. We have to get Ivan help and you can't come with us… We won't be long." she stroked her metal.

The woman backed away as her boyfriend walked up to take her hands.

"This will be the first time you're away from me," He smiled cheekily. "Jane Smith."

Her smile was just as sly. "Is that a fact, _John_?"

"Tis. Tis." They kissed.

Two men from the tinted car Hogarth didn't recognize stepped out on opposite sides.

"I don't think those are the usual goons your uncle hires to drive us to the airport."

A cry from the backseat alerted Taylor to action.

"Hogarth, take Pygmy and go." He was horrified. The black-suited men with wires along their neck and shades held up guns at once. "PYGMY, RUN!" Taylor screamed. "NOW!"

The robot didn't fight back against the barrage of bullets but instead grabbed Hogarth and obeyed. The shots rang out as she ducked for the woods. Once a still shrieking Taylor was slammed shut into the back of the car, two more doors did the same thing and the wheels of the vindictive vehicle sped away. Pygmy moved to transmute as Hogarth protested for her to stay put. Defiantly she changed into a motorcycle in a flash of yellow and rushed onto the dirt road to follow after the men. But they were gone. There was no one there.

Hogarth, who had managed to jump onto her, slid off to stand beside his goddaughter.

Even as she changed back and cried Taylor's name in a harsh, hoarse voice, he stalled.

He could not find it in himself to move. He could not find it in himself to give chase.

**III. **In the future, near the outer limits of Lower Zephyron…

"WHOA!" A much older Hogarth hollered excitedly.

He and the Giant were traveling by air to find the boys and Pygmy, all three they hoped would be with Abba. The two clones carried their father's arms in each of their hands as they traversed the beautiful skies. Below them patches of grass grew around the piles of what the Giant told Hogarth were considered antiques. The man only laughed out loud.

"Well you know what they say, antiques are like old friends!"

They both shared a knowing look at this before examining the Giant's metal.

"I haven't flown in years, Hogarth. This is wonderful." He was so happy.

The man couldn't blame him. "I'm glad pal. Truthfully, I haven't flown in years either."

Pygmy loved staying in her cat mode too much.

Another pulse of purple made the two look down at Hogarth's pocket.

"Oh for God's sake, can't we just get rid of this thing? It's flashed like nine times now."

As the Giant was about to answer they hit a blast of turbulence in the air.

"The memory box?" Hogarth had to speak up.

"No," his friend didn't have to speak up. "A time blip. It happened once when I returned from sending you back to Rockwell and once more when Gold and I went there in 1969."

"A time blip…?"

"It's going to skip to sundown." The Giant was worried. Hogarth was aghast.

"We've gotta find the boys and-,"

The memory box engulfed them in one last gulf of purple.

…

Whether it was 1965 or 2201, Hogarth had never been more relieved in his life. Sure, they were going to stop Kina but having Taylor pressed against him – even with Pygmy bound in her tie-dye bandana – there was nothing that felt better then having both of them in his arms. The Giant lowered his hand for them both to get on and be with him. Unexpectedly, Tress ran up to the pair and offered to take the purple iron ball from them for a moment.

He winked and went to rejoin his brother Ven.

Hogarth held Taylor at arm's length as they both traveled up together. The Giant looked upon them fondly before holding the teens close against his new red-blue armor. In that very instant Hogarth could feel his heart beating. His best friends were right where they belonged; with him. Taylor was right. He _did _need them. But how could they need him?

How was he important enough to be needed?

"Hogarth," Taylor touched his cheek. Tears streaked his face and he wiped them away.

"Are you all right?" The Giant asked concernedly.

"Yeah," he laughed it off. He hid his doubts as always. "I was just thinking about how much I missed you guys. I want you to know how much I love you, if I could ever…"

"Love has no size Hogarth." Taylor hugged him a final time.

The Giant gave them one more as well.

**IV. – **Middle Zephyron, after the time blip…

Abba was in a solemn mood. It was rare of course, but she was taking some time to reflect on what she planned on doing in the morning. At the present time twilight reigned and she was staying with some of her friends directly across the street from the back-up enterprise hidden under ground that her ancestors had left for her to active. She sighed thoughtfully.

"Abba," the nice Chinese lady Mita stepped through the automatic door. "Hungry?"

This woman and her husband had moved from the Eastern Hemisphere to retire. Their daughter Ling worked, however. She was co-owner of a tofu pastry shop in the dining quarter of Middle Zephyron. At forty-two, she had that free-spiritedness Abba valued.

"No thank you, Mrs. Kinton." She said politely from her place at the window. The rooms were different then most homes as they had cushioned floors in mahogany, black and blue.

"All right," Mita, in the green gowns most women wore to bed, said. She bid goodnight.

"I loved your cooking though!" Abba called as the door closed. "Very lovely."

The herbal tea Mita served was a little bland but most sugar went to tofu desserts so the woman could forgive her. Not everyone knew how important the Mistress of Time was, even though most thought it was just legend Abba knew she was royalty. Even if Trina never let her wear her robes out or make decisions for Zephyron, she was their princess.

"I can only hope my father comes soon," Abba said as she lay her auburn head down. "I hope he brings the ironstone and memory box, I do so need these items for my project."

A smile crossed her face as she recalled the last instance when a time blip had occurred.

…

He held her up on his giant feet brought close together as he balanced her little hands with only the tips of his iron fingers. The Giant delighted in bringing her up and down, the child also reveled in their time together. Sometimes he would tickle her, at other times he would play hide and seek with her or clasp his hands with her in it and spin her around really fast.

Abba didn't know how he did it but she loved her father.

There was something different today, however. He didn't do any of these things with her.

"Father, what's wrong?" The six-year-old asked him.

The Giant sat up with her in his hands. He wouldn't look her directly in the eye. "Do you remember when I said one day I might go find your real father, Hogarth?" she nodded. "I didn't think it was possible, but, the portal's reopened. I want to see him so badly Abba."

"We can go together, Father." She wrapped her arms around his fingers.

"No, no Lady Bug." He moved saddened eyes onto her. "You can't come. This is where you're safest. I made a promise to your father that I would be with him if I could. I'm not sure why I didn't return with him in the first place to the past but… I'm so glad I had the chance to be with you." The Giant gently pressed his face against hers. "I l-I'll miss you."

"You love me, Father, don't you?" Abba asked of him.

Her father did not respond to this.

"Father…" Abba was placed down on the ground. It looked as though he were struggling.

"I have to go, Abba, your mother and I. She promised she would go with me. I'm sorry."

"Father!" The girl ran after him from beside the gold-painted palace he had made for her.

It was so real, he was leaving her. He couldn't leave her, that wasn't real.

"If we don't leave now Giant the portal will close up." Gold appeared.

"Mother!" Abba cried, her cousin Trina held her back from chasing after them.

The Giant gave her one last look over his shoulder, "Goodbye Abba."

Time blipped by to the day's end as the portal to 1969 Rockwell closed.

[Memory scan incomplete. Taylor Evans [pending…] Rockwell Maine [pending…] Army soldiers [pending…] Ironstone needed… Memory box needed… Project is [ pending…] ].

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~

**AN: **No more memory box, I promise. Everything I've put your eyes through will make sense in the next chapters. Surprises, plot twists and such are also to come. More soon!


	10. Lady of the night

**I. **At the entrance of Middle Zephyron, late evening…

"What do you mean we can't enter?"

Hogarth and the Giant had been halted by the Giant's own clones… two new ones.

His other two flight clones had been ordered back by two green-suited border guards.

"I don't understand," the robot spoke to them. He took a moment to raise his eyes to see the city he had left behind in it's earliest stage. Beautiful, colorful brick houses, roads that looked like something out of the Wizard of Oz and silvery metal structures that emanated white light on the city were behind the officials and their droids. "I've always had access."

"Things changed after you left." A brown-haired woman said. She was slim but well into her thirties or early forties. "Before the World Affairs Council retired they mandated that in order to be sure no more Kina clones were produced, only your droids were allowed into Middle to Upper Zephyron. It is a Zephyron ordinance that must be adhered to sir."

"You still have access to the North Atlantic." Her lanky friend suggested with a bored shrug. "Various spots in the world are currently uninhabited." he perked up a bit as he gradually noticed the outsiders' discontentment. "We have posers who claim to be the Iron Giant all the time, with retired people claiming to be Garth Hughes." He started smiling in remembrance. "I have even seen where they have aged their droid's metal."

"I've seen that too," the Giant added. "With the cars I work on, it devalues the-,"

"How do we get out of here?" Hogarth put an end to their chit chat. "Sorry, pal. But we've got to get out of here and find those kids. Um… how can we get out of here?"

"The Council decreed that Abba would have to be called forth for verification," The woman nodded to her droid. He took off on his jet feet. "I am very sorry," she turned back to them. "But you leaving, Garth Hughes, depends entirely on whether the Giant

can pass through or not. It's one of the few rules we were left to follow. I apologize."

"It's not your fault," the man past the two instantly wary guards and peered up at the

city. "It's those damn Council members. They almost cost me my trip home last time."

"Wait a minute…" The Giant stepped up to them more assertively. His eyes started to narrow and Hogarth was quick to be alerted to this; He loved it when his pal stopped being so humble and passive and took charge. "I don't remember the Council making anymore decrees after they commissioned for four new cities to be built around Earth,

and that was just a few days after Hogarth returned to the past." As the guards moved back he moved forward. "I also recall the Council retiring two years after the previous event I mentioned. So how could a new decree have been made after I left when there

were no Council members left to make any sort of ordinance or decree? Explain that."

He looked to Hogarth who nodded.

"You're boned. You're busted. You're bone-busting bozos. Now we want the truth."

"The truth…?" Brown-haired woman looked to her no longer bored friend.

He looked to her and then back to the suspicious pair:

"Regardless of factual words or events, you must wait for Abba."

"Let's go," Hogarth boarded the Giant's hand and he started to past them when his two clones blocked his way. He asked for them to move. They didn't. "What happened IG? I thought you of all people would have seen the need for change. Aren't we equals now?"

"Taylor was the one who saw the need for change," The Giant admitted to him. "I didn't get in their way, Hogarth. I was sure robots and humans would reach equality together."

"Alone?"

"Yes." He was ashamed.

"That did not go accordingly." Guard woman said.

The Giant and Hogarth turned back to them.

"You must wait for Abba," the male guard was now serious. "It could take all night."

**II.** – On the Iron Rails, ten minutes from Upper Zephyron…

In the cool atmosphere that was sustained by air specialists - first restored by the Robocity robots who performed an oxygen-restoring function thirty years earlier- a figure flew high in the night sky. The moon glowed at a normal height and size with occasional gray cloud wisps around it. Whatever was flying cast a fleeting shadow that ducked for the darkness.

On a long chrome track a single silver bullet part passenger, part cargo train sped along the sparse but occasionally flower-bedded countryside. The figure in the sky now moved closer to the Iron Rails and the moon reflected a strange orange gleam against it. As the three flashes of moon, chrome and creature lit up, a purple glow pulsed inside the train.

Whatever the sky flyer was caught hold of the gleaming box car and forced it back with it's bare hands. The sudden force caused sparks to fly up instantly, these were not from wheels as the train moved on air jets but the metal-to-metal of the other cars slamming into one another. Whoever was in charge of the train tried forcing it forward but all the

air power within the machine could not stop the creature who now bound it into place.

With it's two hands the creature broke the box car apart as easily as breaking a piggy bank and plucked the contents from inside. Yelling and angered comments in Ominish made the creature raise it's head. Green eye lights roved from the back of it's big face where it had been hiding them. Once it realized that the conductors were coming the creature flew off.

"What was that?" A crippled, white-haired man in the standard Zephyron uniform asked.

He and his friend were one of the few who had resisted forced retirement.

"You will not believe this, but it looked to be a giant… metal… woman."

…

It was early night and the two boys were snuggled up next to Pygmy. After complaining about being hungry, crying and then fighting over who was going to be the guardian and watch out for everyone, they had finally fallen asleep. Ivan found that even after so many years of being in hibernation he needed rest too, so now he sat inside of a blue force field.

He would start first thing in the morning and find Abba, than he would procure what he needed to take back to the past for his mother - the memory box - and then leave these utterly useless beings behind. The boy-appearing man would need to take Pygmy so he could travel fast and efficiently but that was it. That was all this droid could do. In the heaps of junk surrounding them Ivan Grant could make out the city he sensed his half sister was in. She would have the object he required and would be a great participant.

"That is more then can be said for these infidels," He muttered.

"You are looking for Abba." A female voice spoke.

He immediately looked up and the force field blitzed away from him.

"Who." The child man backed away across the dirt floor he sat on. "Who are you?"

"Someone seeking to restore their loved one…" A droid stepped out of the shadows which arched around them. "… Someone who needs help in doing so." She stomped

up and didn't seem to be bothered that a rival female droid was awakened. "And, my young dear, someone who can take you to Abba. I know her. I can explain every last detail to the both of you." The bot bent down. "I also hold the item you are seeking."

Ivan's eyes went wide as the blue of his markings came alive underneath his clothes. It seemed to light up his dead soul and brighten up the blue irises he had inherited from

his father. Jean and Taylor awakened now as the purple of a strange box and stone in

the robot's hand glowed as well. In that instant Pygmy and the droid connected eyes.

"If you want my help," she brought the items back. "You will take control of Pygmy."

"Or how about I just take control of you?" Ivan spun his silver rod around like a baton.

When it stopped the serious glimmer in the droid's green eyes caused him to stop as well.

"I know far more than you, boy." She said in a chilly tone. Her eyebeams weren't bright enough to light up their surroundings as Pygmy's light yellow ones were. "I suggest you take control of Pygmy and trace my whereabouts down to the center of the city. If I find you have not followed my command by morning, you will never again see your mother."

"Why are you so mean?.!" Taylor cried out. "Ivan didn't do anything to you!"

His brother cupped his mouth.

"_Jean_." He complained from under the older boy's palm.

"I reiterate," The female droid turned back to Ivan sharply. "You have until morning to take hold of Pygmy and meet me in the center of this city or none of you shall ever see your families again," She melded back into the shadows, "I will not hesitate to destroy."

They waited until the deep green of her eyes were gone and she took off on silent jets.

"So how 'bout now Ivan?" Jean asked his speechless second cousin, "Do you still know everything or is the real world startin' to suck paint balls? Hurts to be bullied, doesn't it?"

"Are you gonna hurt Pygmy?" Taylor whimpered as he clung to his brother.

He was silent for a moment, his back stood solemnly to them. "No," Ivan Grant turned to face the two. "My mission is now null and void," his eyes - alive but still slightly robotic - rose to meet Pygmy's. "It appears I was wrong. Please, I do not wish for the young boys to die. Take them far away and back to the wormhole's opening. I will go solo for this."

"No." Pygmy knelt down as the boys boarded her hands. "We can do this as siblings."

Ivan's face grew wary. "We are not equals or siblings, please take these boys home."

"No," the droid argued defiantly, "I am not taking them home. I want to see Abba too."

He considered this a moment. "Fine. We will travel together and face our fate as a unit."

Jean and Taylor exchanged looks of uncertainty at this.

"Uh… don't we get a say in this?" The oldest of the brothers asked.

"No." Ivan said.

…

There was a light rap against the window of Abba's room… on the fourth floor. At the prospect of what a knock at such staggering heights might mean, the woman spread her arms out and the motion sensors lit up the room from the silver poles running along the ceiling. When someone made the sign known as "Wing Blades" the metal fan generators beneath the homes would send beads of air to seventy indoor electricity-free light globes.

"I love Crystal Lighters," Abba said to herself. "But Globe Lighters work too."

She stepped over to the square pane of glass as a large shadow loomed outside.

"Hello?" the woman gently pushed the thin barrier - which acted like a revolving door - to the center. "Is someone out there?" A pair of familiar green eyes glowed dimly in her face.

"Abba," her mother spoke.

She gasped and fell to her butt.

"Now, now." Gold slipped a single finger into the opening and stroked Abba's cheek.

The woman sucked in air and laid her hand against the spot her mother had touched.

It was wet.

"No need to be afraid, my dear. I have come back for you."

"Mother." Abba said urgently and pressed the brass-colored finger to her cheek.

"I suspect you wonder what I am doing here?"

She nodded.

"Why, I am here to help you with the Android Marketer's project of course."

Something wasn't right, Abba moved away from her touch. "Where's Father?"

"He will come," Gold was loving but oddly coaxing, coercing, "In the meantime we must reconnect. Do you wish for this too?" The woman nodded again like the little girl she felt like, sniffed, then climbed into her mother's hand. She ignored the intent care and almost forced calmness the maternal droid seemed to exude. "Let us speak of the project, dear."

"How do you know of it Mother?" She realized that they had left the ground.

Gold calmly floated back down to Earth on her afterburners. Her eyes took on more of a passionate look as she gazed along the row of brick buildings they both knew housed an instrument of incredible power. Abba was blindsided by how much desire Gold had for it.

"Mother." She asked in concern. "Do you not care for me?"

When the droid turned to her again there was only love and devotion in her eyes. "Abba my dear, I have always cared you. I had to return with your father to bring Ivan along. He is your half-brother, as you have been told. This young man holds the blueprints we need to make our dreams come true." Gold turned excited and lifted her mandible so that her lower lids caused her eyes to appear smiling. "In the morning we will see your father, all of the droids will become human and we will all be a family… we will be human, Abba."

"You and Father?" She asked in amazement.

"Yes," Gold bent her head forward to rest against Abba's. "Human. Both your father and I will become human and we can be the family we couldn't be before." The droid swerved her eyes around. "I am well versed in this project, did you know that dear?" Abba gave an innocent shake of her head. "I was there when it was first made." Gold stepped over to the rooftop of the building directly in front of the one Abba had been in and placed her on top of it. "There is a trial version, Abba. A small test we can run before doing it tomorrow…"

Her green eyes swerved over to the side again just as a blue light flashed in the distance.

"Mother, who is that?"

"He is giving us permission to perform the trial version, Abba."

An orb of blue appeared before them both and a podium rose out of the building.

"It's transmuting…" The reddish-brown haired woman said in awe as the iron box formed fully in front of her and a dual-chambered canister of a more slick, silver metal opened. "I am to activate this Mother?" she turned to the droid who nodded. "Are we to view them?"

"No, my dear." Gold cupped her back. "Not until morning. The process of change is not yet known." She used her other hand to deposit a gray, red and yellow banded rock with what looked to be a veined box into Abba's. "Ironstone on top, memory box on bottom."

"Does this vessel contain the memory imprints?"

"Yes," The droid said. "Of course. All of the imprints of the elderly humans here are in that box and is powered by your father's raw iron material. Now, it will not work to it's fullest extent without your half-brother and all of the humans and his clones present but this crucial preview will help determine if it's safe. We will see another flash of blue for success." Abba stalled. "Go on, Dear. This is _your _time, your goals and dreams. Right?"

Her hesitation passed. "Right." She placed the items in and pushed the canister down.

A surge of blue light lit up underneath the buildings like an X-ray room. The light zapped away and zigzagged down an odd structure. The ground rumbled as an unholy machine up to this point only known as the Android Marketer's project came roaring to life. Abba had to fight to hang on as her "mother" backed away, not even sparing her old partner's only daughter a single glance. The blue light of the enormous metal machine grew brighter as the machine pulled itself from the ground. It ripped the metal fans and lights from every single home of Middle Zephyron and expanded to a towering height with white globes draping off of it like Christmas lights. Finally the giant sapphire sphere fizzled out and took off like an electrical charge to the entrance of the uprooted city for the preview Gold had spoken of. The ones targeted were Hogarth and Giant – It was a direct hit.

To be continued…

**AN: **Yes, I'm going somewhere with this. lol

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	11. For bigger or smaller

**AN: **You know, a few things occurred to me as I wrote this. One, I'm weird. Two, I'm stupid. Three, I don't care what anyone thinks. If I can't proudly display my darkest and even my purest wishes, hopes and dreams onto the internet, what's the point? If I don't take a new step forward into an almost entirely different direction, why am I here? Why am I writing? So I'm going in this new direction, you see, that you might not expect me to go. But know this, I don't regret doing it. I actually became depressed when I wasn't writing this. When I doubted myself but the truth is I've always been different, no matter how many times I tried to fit in. So just a small disclaimer, either proceed full force or do not proceed at all. I don't want caution. I want action, love, drama and life. So that's all.

Please enjoy the story. :)

**The Bro Code, Article 1: **The bond between two men is stronger than the bond between a man and a woman.

**I.**

The Giant saw it coming like a missile. It wasn't a torpedo; that made a loud, whistling noise. It was a missile. He grabbed for Hogarth as that was all he could do. There was simply no time to shield the man. There was only time to clasp him inside his corroding hand. A yell echoed in what the Giant saw from the crease of his eye shutters was blue light. Not like his gently colored transmuting kind but an entrapping and dark type. He wasn't aware that it was his own voice that yelled until he hit the dirt ground hard with

his shoulder. Somehow, his yell grew smaller in size and his booming echo was cut off.

"Hogarth?" He got out. The Giant was weak… light. Light?

An examination of his shirted and trousered self brought the automaton to shock. The light beam had turned him human! He thought of Taylor, that was the first time this had come about and it was when Hogarth was back in the past. But, there wasn't a wormhole here.

"HOGARTH!" The Giant shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I hear ya, pal."

Still shocked, he whipped around to find Hogarth with his back to him. He still had on his overalls but they appeared to hang loosely over his shoulders. When Hogarth faced him he was young. This made the Giant look down at himself questioningly. His body looked just as Hogarth's did… They were _both _human. The Giant smiled in awe as he discovered this.

He looked at his ironless hands, looked up and then raced forward. "Hogarth!"

The man looked up at his friend's overjoyed tone. "Huh?"

In a split second the Giant had flung himself onto Hogarth in a tackle.

"Hogarth!" He cried joyously again and hugged him around the arms.

"Whoa!" Hogarth found he couldn't keep his balance. "Gi-ANT." They fell to the ground.

The Giant refused to let go.

"All right, big guy, ease up." Hogarth laughed.

It seemed to dawn on him then and that's when he found his arms freed.

They both stood up to take one another in.

…

Hogarth's face fell.

"Hogarth," The Giant didn't skip a beat. He gestured at himself excitedly. "It's me."

Instinctively he looked down at himself and saw that he was still human. His body was much younger, possibly late twenties. When Hogarth looked up again the sight that the Giant was himself human caused him to tear up. He laughed a little and gave him a hug.

The Giant hugged him back happily.

Just as the tears were rolling down Hogarth's face the "I'm a dad now" sensation he had felt only once before when he'd found out Taylor was expecting vanished. The reality of what the Giant now was made he pull back with a haunted look on his face. This caused the Giant understandable confusion; not by his new form but by his friend's sudden turn from elation to being wigged out. No, this was more serious. Hogarth was now in denial.

He couldn't react beyond more then just shaking his head at the Giant before turning around and walking away. No, this wasn't right. It wasn't natural. Robots becoming human? No, no, no. A sudden intake of breath by the Giant made him slow his pace.

"You told me once that it didn't matter how big I got!"

Hearing the Giant's deep voice at this level wasn't what made him stop.

"Did that not include me getting smaller? Does our friendship depend on my size?"

Hogarth was aggrieved.

When the man turned around the Giant was in tears and he felt guilt strike his heart.

"I never once rejected you. Not in the beginning and not now."

Hogarth almost tilted forward with the impact of what was happening.

"Don't leave…" The Giant was crying, almost sobbing. "Please, don't leave me. Not again." He held out his hand as if Hogarth could still climb into it. "Please, _please_…"

It struck him then. This was still the Giant, this was still his friend.

"Giant…" He was rendered vurenable.

Without a fight the Giant collapsed to his knees in grief.

"Giant," Hogarth hesitated only a moment and then rushed to his side. "It's okay, pal. I'm not leaving you." he stirred him to a nearby rock. "Come on, sit down." He now held him in his arms and rocked him slowly. "I'm not leaving you, I promise Giant, I'm not leaving you." They both grew quiet as Hogarth continued rocking him. A minute passed and the Giant was still as passive as a child. Hogarth leaned forward a little so he could see him.

"You left once," The Giant murmured. "Yesterday. I thought I'd never see you again."

"You really thought I was leaving?"

How could he leave him? Hogarth didn't know. Yesterday was so long ago.

The Giant leaned into him and Hogarth patted his shoulder consolingly. "Hey, come on pal. Look at me." He did. His face was as red and wet as his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry you thought I was leaving you." The Giant's head dropped, Hogarth touched his chin to raise his eyes back up. "But you know me. You know I would never leave you, Giant."

When the look in his eyes said otherwise Hogarth felt another blow to his heart.

Even as he started hurting again the man tried to ignore it.

"Let's go get something to eat," he encouraged. The Giant reluctantly stood with him,

his eyes never left the ground. "I brought some chili in my bag. And some Ritz, bowls

and spoons." Hogarth garnered his attention a little. "I might even have a soda or two."

There was some consideration in his white eyes now. That was the only thing left aside from the Giant's voice. He had taken half of Hogarth's age… and half of his body. The Giant took a few concentrated steps up to him and Hogarth started for his stringed bag.

He didn't get more then halfway.

"Giant," his voice ached in a whisper, "You're my friend no matter what size you are."

A moment passed.

"Hogarth." The Giant seemed to come alive again.

Dreading what his friend might say, the man pressed his lips together and turned.

Just as before two arms caught him in a big hug. Stunned, he slowly hugged him back.

"You know that, don't you?" Hogarth asked quietly.

"Yes," the Giant smiled, "I know that."

When Hogarth pulled back he was smiling too; the two still had one arm wrapped around the other's shoulders. "What'd ya say we go get some chili, pal?" Hogarth thumbed at his right eye before giving the Giant's shoulder a squeeze. He in turn gave Hogarth one back.

Now they were ready.

At least, they thought they were ready.

"How do we do this?" The Giant asked.

"Well…" Hogarth held out his hand in a man-to-man handshake. This business-like, rather impersonal gesture made the Giant's movable face work itself into an awkward frown. A moment later Hogarth realized this and started to bring it down. The Giant reached for his hand impulsively and brought him in for a third hug. Hogarth's blue eyes grew to the size of saucers. The Giant rubbed his cheek against his friend's shoulder without consequence.

Hogarth closed his eyes and reached up to stroke the back of the Giant's red-brown hair.

There was suddenly a long forgotten movement in his overalls; Hogarth backed away.

"Uh…" He looked down at one of the Giant's hands and tried to back into it. Hogarth at this time wanted things to go back to normal. But… he didn't fit. The Giant realized this.

He smiled reassuringly and opened up his arms as an offer to carry him.

Hogarth turned around instead and tried turning his arms outward. The Giant attempted to get on his friend's back but the position felt odd. Instead, he moved back a little and held out his hand again. Hogarth did so also. The Giant slipped his soft white fingers through Hogarth's. This still made him somewhat unsure and he worked his hand around so that both his and the Giant's hands grasped a bit more comfortably. Astonished by how well they both fit, Hogarth looked up at the Giant who nodded in confirmation. He felt it too.

A smile eased across Hogarth's face as they, hand-in-hand, headed for a circle of rocks.

…

"Whoo!" Hogarth leaned back and undid his suspenders. "That was good…"

He tried to hold his back his laughter as the Giant refused to use a bowl… or a spoon for that matter. After he had nearly broken his teeth trying to sharpen a piece of rusted metal to open one of the cans, the Giant had nearly burned his hands three times over the small fire Hogarth had taught him how to light. Though, that was his first near burn. Currently the Giant was busy with chugging down his third and hopefully final can of Hormel chili.

"Like it?"

"Hmm." He wiped his mouth off. "It tastes… warm. Chunky. Fleshy?"

"Meaty." Hogarth corrected, munching on a few Ritz crackers.

"You had four bowls." The Giant noted.

"And now we're down to two." He placed his old army pull string behind the rock he lay against. Hogarth looked up at the Giant and smiled. "Try to keep the fire stoked, okay?"

The ironless man smiled back. "Without burning myself?"

"I'm serious," his friend pointed out. Hogarth then unzipped the one other thing that had been in his bag. "You're welcome to the other half of this if you get cold." he pulled part of a sleeping bag over his head. "'Night pal." There was something else he wanted to say.

The Giant waited for him to do so but he didn't. They both turned back to their respective distractions. After about ten minutes the Giant looked back over at Hogarth and observed that he was rubbing his stomach. The flesh had extended out from beneath his blue T-shirt.

But aside from him gaining his girth back the Giant saw something else…

Hogarth's misery.

He debated only a moment before rising to his feet.

…

He was turning into an old man again. That wasn't the part that bothered Hogarth, he was turning into a _fat_ old man again. His poor, aching stomach wasn't helping either. Sighing, the man was about to readjust himself onto his gut when a shadow loomed over him. The idea that he was in trouble turned out to be false as the Giant gently took hold of his body.

"Uh… Giant?"

"Huuuuhhh." His friend sighed as he grasped his belly.

Hogarth gradually smiled and slipped his arms under the Giant's, pulling him in closer.

He ended up opening his legs as he did this and giving the Giant a loving stroke across

the bangs. The Giant pulled up Hogarth's shirt and gave his stomach a stroke. This led Hogarth to pull off his shirt and allow the Giant full access to rubbing his growing belly.

His slender but masculine hands were like that of a fifteen-year-old as he ran his fingers in circles over Hogarth. The white flesh was tight at the top and seemed to be a swelled source of pain for him. The Giant worked on loosening it up with firm but gentle strokes, it wasn't something he knew how to do yet still he attempted to please. Hogarth reclined his head back in acceptance. He felt his pal begin to explore under his stretched flesh and hover tenderly over his undercarriage, the tips of his digits just barely graced it and it was enough to send a shiver up Hogarth's body. He didn't know what the Giant was thinking about but suddenly four fingers easily smoothed under his clump of stomach to relax him.

Hogarth could feel it building in his special area as he pulled the Giant back onto him. It was hard to tell if the fire was still burning or not, they were at least ten feet away. Just a faint white he assumed was from the city glowed from up above. He turned his attention back to the Giant who had settled back on top of him. His ear was pressed to his tummy.

He was listening.

…

The gurgling and swooshing was soothing. He had never been so close to another human before… or Hogarth, for that matter. It felt wonderful. The Giant continued to stroke his stomach as his fingers found long, deep stretch marks running up Hogarth's gut. He went on stroking them when he felt a tightness form in the front of his pants under his stomach.

Did he have to go pee?

…

Hogarth felt it. Just as the Giant moved his ear to Hogarth's heart the man used one hand to hold the Giant's back in place and the other to slip under his baggy jeans that were just like the ones he used to wear in the late seventies. Hogarth zipped down the tiny sliver of metal, hooked his finger through the light green nylon string, gave it a good tug and than the Giant took his hand and moved it between both their chests. This made Hogarth stop moving altogether. The Giant's warm flesh thumped with a strong, steady beat. Hogarth teared up as he felt his friend's heart throbbing rich with blood under well-sculpted pecs.

The former automaton then moved Hogarth's hand to his own chest and he felt his own heart beat; it was a little slower. They both gazed into each other's eyes and, smiling and closing them, pressed their chests together so their hearts beat as one. Hogarth could feel his own start to increase when the Giant rested his cheek on his shoulder. Nothing in this moment could make things better. But, Hogarth smiled to himself, he could think of one.

As the dual erection between their legs generously engorged, Hogarth slithered one of his hands – the one that wasn't pressed down – past the Giant and past his own thick penis to where one identical to his own was practically ready to burst at the seams. Hogarth did his brotherly duty and caught the shaft of the Giant's penis as it hardened into a fleshed stone;

It was an ironless stone.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	12. Sensitive subjects

**I.**

The Giant felt a tingle shoot up an unknown part of his body. He shook, froze and then contemplated what such a thing could mean. Hogarth's hand gathered the flesh bulge he knew produced pee. The question building in his mouth was quelled by a wave of tingles.

"_Hogarth_." He gasped. "Hahhhhhhhhh."

"I got ya pal." His voice spoke from the mute light. "Just relax and enjoy."

Well-attuned fingers stroked up and down his thick rod, making the man quiver with what he could no longer mistake for anything else but pleasure. The finger tips easily found little hidden spots of sensation. This made the Giant arch his back unconsciously. All at once he felt control over his body leave him. Hogarth reached his thumb up close under the Giant's rod head and delivered the subtlest swipe under it. Another quiver and gravity was erased.

The Giant dropped with a desperate moan.

…

Wasting no time, the Giant fully recovered and pulled his white shirt off. Neither of them seemed interested in the fact that he had a perfect six pack. The Giant instead dramatically collapsed on top of Hogarth's gut, sighing in gratification as he did before he instinctively began his hunt for the zipper on Hogarth's overalls. As it turned out, his hand slid right in.

Hogarth placed one hand behind his head and used the other to stroke his friend's abs.

The Giant made sure that he was careful. Just like when he had been a giant robot, he was considerate of what he handled. Soft but tough flesh groped inside his loose grip. Next to a hug the Giant had never felt something so warm. _He _had never felt so warm, real, alive.

As he gently stroked Hogarth's rod the Giant could feel him tense up. This somehow did not make him hesitate as it normally would, instead he cradled and sought to pleasure his friend just as he had done for him initially. The Giant explored for Hogarth's benefit with delicate grace along his rod until he discovered two soft melons prickled in hair that were tucked away under a flap of belly. He touched them and instantly Hogarth's legs shot out.

…

With his pleasure point activated, Hogarth grabbed at the Giant's arm and pulled him back on top of his chest. He then went for the spot where he had been touched – the tiny crease between his left testicle and penis – and felt the Giant shiver in his arms. They both turned together with their respective bodies pressed flat and went to lay side-by-side. As pleasure kept shooting up their thighs and scrotums and as they kept massaging one another's penis, the two began sighing and moaning. Even as the fire burned out their hands stayed active.

Some time passed and Hogarth wanted to talk:

"You know I've always wanted to hold you like this," he emphasized his point by bringing the Giant in closer; who snuggled up to his chest and placed his ear on Hogarth's heart. "I thought I'd never get the chance…" his voice caught. The Giant looked up at him. Even in his tears of heartache and yearning there was frustration. "There were so many times in the past Giant that I wanted to hold you. I wanted to comfort you and I knew that I couldn't."

…

Feeling his own eyes grow moist, the Giant moved his left arm under Hogarth while using his right one to bring his friend in closer. "There were many times I wanted that too but I knew I couldn't. I didn't think you wanted that from me. I didn't know if I could say I…"

"I love you." Hogarth finished for him clearly, unexpectedly. He held the Giant as tightly as he could without suffocating him. "You don't have to worry about that." There were no more tears but the emotion was nearly overwhelming like so many instances in only a couple of days. "It was nothing you did, pal. I was just a kid. I was angry at myself but I took it out on you and Taylor." he stroked the Giant's cheek as he rested his head on his heart and relaxed a little. The pain of losing her surfaced and the Giant admitted to missing her quite often.

"I miss her too, pal. It seems like we miss a lot of people, huh?" Hogarth's laugh was sad.

When the Giant looked up at him there was a question in his eyes.

"I don't know where she is, Giant." He lamented quietly.

"No…" the Giant touched his gut and then took a breath before moving his cheek onto it.

"Oh," Hogarth was surprised but without defense, he welcomed his pal with more strokes along his neck as he relaxed and explained lightly. "Well, I was pretty happy with being in shape. My size had always bothered me as a kid and I didn't have many friends… until a giant robot came knocking, that is." he could feel the Giant's smile on his stomach and it caused him to smile as well. "When I retired from the big A I ditched staying on top of my health regime. One thing led to another and I guess you can say that I gained what I lost."

The Giant sank his cheek in deeper.

Hogarth continued stroking him.

"I guess by getting bigger it helped me feel closer to what I was missing. I missed you…"

There was a sudden inhale.

"I'm sorry," the Giant whispered. "I'm sorry I left you."

Hogarth leaned back and closed his eyes, giving him a final stroke. "I want to forgive…"

Two white eyes appeared over him. "I forgive you, I just wish you could forgive me."

"I…"

Someone curled up next to him as he fell asleep.

'_I want to forgive you_.'

**II. **

The crackle of a fire brought the Giant out of a deep snooze.

"Ugh…" It had been a very deep snooze. He directed his attention to a warm source.

There was a form hunched over a bright blaze that sparked orange up to the night sky.

"Hogarth?"

…

The man noticed that his friend rose from underneath the sleeping bag like a woman but rubbed at his eyes like a child. He smiled; Normalcy had never been one of his or the Iron Giant's strong suits. "Hey there pal." he greeted him. "I think it's right around midnight."

"Hmm. The time skip was just because of us, there shouldn't be anymore."

"Yep."

Hogarth was focused on something he was cooking over the fire.

"Anymore chili?"

"The last two cans are for my nephews… here." He held up a slightly charred stick.

"My throat itches…" The Giant clutched at the aforementioned place on his neck.

"You're thirsty," Hogarth offered his friend a smile and a bowl of water.

"Hmm. How'd you learn this?" He went to work drinking and munching on black meat.

"The army."

They both paused.

The Giant's face was a mix of surprise and inquiry.

Hogarth quietly munched on a charred shish-kabob.

"They're water roaches, I found them down by a small stream. Don't worry, it's all clean."

He waited for the adverse reaction.

"Can you teach me?"

Hogarth sighed. "Not now."

He joined the Giant and they laid side-by-side. A moment or so passed and the two looked at one another. There was that unspoken space between them. They had talked their issues out, gone through more issues and had new issues still. Even in the future their heads were still in the past. Hogarth smiled timidly and opened his arms. The Giant was alleviated and gladly went into the offered embrace as Hogarth started stroking the hair they both shared.

"I thought about what you said… about forgiving. But, I guess I never really did that."

The Giant waited patiently.

"Do you want to?"

"I don't know."

A hand suddenly clutched him around the gut. "I'm just glad you're here now."

Hogarth held his best friend closer. "I love you, pal."

"I love you too."

Unbeknownst to the Giant, Hogarth had unscrewed a small tube and applied a clear gel to his fingers. He slowly slipped them through the new jeans he had placed on his friend – the others having been ruined by a lack of toilet training – and gave the Giant a gentle squeeze around his penis. A quiver ran up his spine and he dropped flat on top of Hogarth, sighing and shuddering as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Even as he tried to move his limp body there was nothing he could do; he was at Hogarth's mercy… a time later found them side-by-side cuddling, smiling. Their hearts and bellies were pressed together as both their penises were tucked into each others. They sighed with pleasure, ignoring everything else.

…

It was at least several hours later that found the pair lying under a heavenly night. A small band of medium blue tinged the eastern sky but they were far too out of it to notice; they lay in a near arch with their arms resting lazily on top of one another's, happily oblivious and lost in their sexual stupor. Hogarth was the first to comment and it took some effort:

"I've never been happier…"

"Me neither." The Giant found his voice.

"There's no one else I'd rather be here with," his companion admitted.

He turned his head at this. "Me neither."

There was a moment of truth surfacing as they spoke their validities. This didn't speak just solely of enjoying each other's company, that was expected. What this truth spoke of was something deeper then just males pleasing each other. They were violating two unspoken rules, possibly even committing a sin or two. The Giant knew of the first but he could not bring the second one to light beyond contemplation. Only Hogarth knew of the underlying issue at hand with two men consecrating their love for each other. He knew consequences would lie before him in this life and the next for this most gross violation of Christianity. It was probably a mark against humanitarianism as well. He would forever be a branded sinner.

The Giant was not exempt either.

He would lose everything he had worked for through a simple yet powerful motif: Superman.

With all this brewing in his mind, Hogarth pulled out his arm and touched the fingers of his best friend. The Giant craned his head a little and clutched onto Hogarth's hand. Only two hours remained until dawn as they lay back down. Hogarth felt the Giant squeeze his hand and he returned the favor. He then felt the top of it being kissed and he did so as well.

…

After thirty or so minutes, Hogarth had sat up and taken the Giant into his arms, holding and rocking him. The entire time the subject of his friend's soul had been on his mind. Did this now mean they shared each other's eternal life and not just the physical attributes? In all the time between October 6th 1957 up to May 21st 2201, Hogarth had never once been unconvinced that his friend had a soul. The Giant was every bit deserving of one. This led Hogarth to a revelation: he loved his best friend more than he loved himself. Possibly even the Lord himself. Hogarth nearly dropped the Giant out of his arms. He loved his best pal more than the Lord himself, even more than Pygmy and Julianne. How could he? Hogarth was beguiled. The unworthiness was almost too overbearing and all at once he saw that as the dawn grew brighter his left hand was starting to dissolve back into a nub. It was when he had accidentally been stepped on by Pygmy. Just the thought of her and his nephews in trouble caused Hogarth more guilt for loving them any less then he loved his best friend. A ray of sunlight escaped the horizon and Hogarth saw that a large silhouette was forming.

It was the body of the Iron Giant, lying uselessly among rocks, weeds and big metal tubes.

Not taking the time to wonder what the tubes were, Hogarth looked down at his friend in resolution. Just as he was beginning to glow a haze of blue the child-hearted android was gathered up in Hogarth's arms and carried up a tube to where his real body lay corpselike.

"I'm going to give you what you've deserved all along," his friend said. "A human body."

He was caught on a sudden burst of emotion, the Giant should have been born human.

"My body." Hogarth finalized.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	13. The Skeleton Key: Part 1 of 3

**I.**

Hogarth looked down as the Giant lay quietly in his arms asleep, a peaceful yet blank face was the only thing he could look at even as the sun arrived over the oddly wrecked lands. The man lifted his eyes to take in what he expected would be his final gaze at the source of all life in his human form and tapped his forehead and heart. Hogarth felt his blue eyes well up with tears as he touched the Giant's forehead once and started to touch his heart.

Before his fingertips made contact with the middle of his friend's abdomen, light from a different source flashed blue in the distance. There was another pulse of it that surged up the shiny metal tubing that Hogarth saw stretched out into the distance and then another.

He gasped as he and the Giant were consumed in this light.

…

"It did not work," Abba said.

She looked upon the elderly people dressed in yellow atop a droid's gray shoulder.

They seemed unfazed that their city was in ruin as they waited for the Android Marketers machine to work; it didn't. In the blinding sun of morning the once beautiful cobblestone roads and well-polished brick homes were nothing but crumpled piles of rubble amongst the huge, twisted fans that were once housed under ground. It was as if the people were so used to the monotony of their daily lives that even having their homes destroyed was not enough to awaken them. Abba turned back as the silver tube and capsule reappeared.

"Perhaps there was a technical glitch," Gold suggested. "It has been _so _long."

Her adopted daughter gave her an uneasy look. "Yes, I suppose it has." She regained her composure. "Still, I promised these people a continuation of their existence. If not by this then by what…?" Abba's mother was dead silent; and dead-eyed. She seemed so out of it.

When the woman started to go for the ironstone and memory box a brass hand slid out to block her. "Why don't you leave these here, dear? At least until your father's rendezvous."

Abba was still apprehensive. "I do not think so, Mother." she removed the items. Part of her wondered if the clones would rally to her side if something were to happen. Why was she so uncertain of her own mother? "I think I shall return home. Trina is still important."

"Important, is she?" Gold tilted her head back and Abba did the same with her feet.

Sputnik approached her. There were several elderly people beginning to look concerned from the crowds, their matched droids were curious but waited for orders. In all the time Sputnik took picking her up and transmuting in a yellow flash, Abba still felt her mother's eyes on the back of her head. The way she looked at the woman was like two balls of tiny fire piercing into the back of the aircraft. It took seven minutes and she was safely home.

Abba looked from the center of her wide, gilded steps – Sputnik had left for somewhere – and saw not her mother following her but the ghostly solitude of her city. There was no life for miles it seemed, as if the city had been evacuated. Scared to be alone and yet not wanting to be outside, the woman walked up the once awe-inspiring ornamental staircase that had been her home and playhouse. It had been her escape, her vacation spot, her little hangout with friends who were now working in Lower Zephyron or in other hemispheres.

Never had Abba felt so truly and utterly alone.

…

"Are you listening to what I am saying?" Ivan was trying to explain to the frightened man named Tress as his hungry and disheveled cousins huddled behind him. "The droid Golden is in control of this city and all of it's three portions. I did not believe it at first but being in direct contact with a droid allows me to access it's thoughts and with the memory box, it's memories. The city sentries have cleared most of the population out but you _need _to allow us passage to Abba. Tell us how to get there. Her and all of her accomplices are doomed."

"Uh, Ivan."

"Not now, my boy." He said to Taylor.

"No, Ivan." Jean tried not to sound sarcastic. "_Tress_ is an accomplice."

With that said, the man named Tress found his bearings.

"I am not sure I appreciate all the knowledge you hold, young man." He said.

Just as he walked towards the three boys, a plum-overlapping-lavender droid slipped itself around a tall pile of earth and metal tubing. When the light blonde-haired man saw her he nearly fell over. She had not aged a bit nor was she damaged or scuffed. She was perfect.

"Pygmy."

The droid only took a moment to recognize her old friend. "Tress," her lower lids rose in a smile. He walked over to her and hugged the hand she lowered. "How have all our friends been doing, Pyg? How are you? How is your father and Taylor, good ol' Garth Hughes?"

" 'Good old Garth?' " the youngest boy laughed, despite looking dirty and weak.

"Garth Hughes is our uncle, dude." the oldest child in appearance said.

Tress examined them over with a solemn stare.

"I believe you." He said but did not go into why he so readily did. "And I can take you to Abba." Tress turned to Ivan. "Provided you do not take control of Pygmy." he dared with a grin. The man waited to see if any of Hogarth resided in his son but saw no resemblance.

This boy was Hogarth's?

"You do not know something." Ivan guessed as they stepped into Pygmy's hands. "And it is as if you wish for us to tell you." he looked down at his staff. "I am useless, I'm afraid."

"Why do you say that?" Jean walked up to him but Ivan turned away.

He seemed stalled by his own emotion.

" 'Cause you aren't useless to us," Taylor came to reside on his other side and touched his arm. "You're our family." The three boys and Pygmy looked at Tress as tears glittered in his own gray eyes. He and the droid shared a knowing look. "Tress? Are you family too?"

The thin man reached down and plopped Taylor up on his shoulders.

He laughed happily in surprise, clutching onto his new friend's head.

"By bond if not by blood, my young boy. Now let us go to gather Abba and Trina! It is so that they are part of our family too, correct?" Pygmy nodded. Jean nodded. Then the little boy atop Tress's shoulders and lastly _he _nodded. They turned to Ivan Grant in expectancy.

He disappointed them.

"I cannot be a part of your family. I cannot be your friends." the man-boy turned to Tress. "I will hold Golden off for as long as I can." Pygmy brought her friends closer to her chest as she recalled the droid's dangerous affront. He and the purple droid shared a lasting look before they parted ways. "You are so much like our fathers. I will not forget to love you."

Pygmy stood there as he flung himself away in a giant blue ball of strobing swirls.

"What did he mean by he can't be our family?" Taylor asked.

His brother gave him a little push on the shoulder.. "He says we can't be family, stupid."

Even as Tress wanted to he couldn't force two brothers to get along; Hogarth could not do that with him and Ven so long ago. Pygmy, a shadow of doubt crossing over her face, sped off in the direction her old friend Tress pointed to. They left without transmuting and with no further incident as they passed over Middle Zephyron in just several short minutes.

…

Gold saw him coming.

She knew the sentries had betrayed her and moved the majority of the population out but the droid still had the Giant's clones. All she needed was a way out of this time and yet the last time-transporter in existence was not within her grasp of knowledge and she couldn't go past Pygmy to find Trina on her own. Who else would have been left this old artifact?

The bronze-paneled and copper-coiled droid practically swatted him in between her hands.

"You alerted them." Ivan cowered in real human terror as she uncovered him.

"I-I-,"

"It seems I will have to kill your mother after all."

"NO!" He shrieked, brought to sudden awareness of the danger she posed.

"That is better. You will lead me to where Pygmy is and as I suspect she will dwell near where my dear sweet Abba fled to. Where Trina holds my escape. Do you understand?"

Ivan nodded. When he looked up he saw that the droids and humans were stricken.

"Do I need to crush this boy or are my intentions clear?"

No one moved to stop her.

"Good." Gold's green eyes swerved back to Ivan. "And yes, I can and will kill Hogarth."

What neither of them or the small population of droids and humans knew was that not one but two clones were now missing. Gold counted on collecting Pygmy in the end but there was one that hadn't returned from taking Abba home, he had been her playmate long ago.

He was her friend and usual mode of transportation:

Sputnik.

…

Hogarth waited as the Giant stood in the shadows.

How was he going to explain to his friend that he was no longer human?

"Hogarth?"

The middle-aged man grew shocked as the robot stepped out into the morning light.

"Houston can't help us now," He whispered, gaping.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	14. The Skeleton Key: Part 2 of 3

**I.**

Hogarth was lost for words. The Giant was stripped clean of his outer iron, there wasn't one cord that wasn't exposed or one strip of inner metal that wasn't silently moving mere inches beneath circuits intertwined so tightly together that they resembled human muscles.

"What's wrong?" The Giant asked as he stomped forward.

He seemed less worried that he was a robot again and more worried about Hogarth.

"Giant," the man stepped back, his blue eyes widening with each passing moment.

"Not again." The Giant said in resignation to his friend's reaction.

Hearing this, Hogarth stopped short. "No, worse."

The Giant looked down at himself curiously and saw that his disproportionate iron body was now only a skeleton of it's former self. He touched his face and felt the sunk in areas and gaunt grooves. Further examination revealed just how much thinner and taut he was.

"How did this happen?" He was horror-stricken.

"I…" Hogarth caught himself and fibbed. "Sort of, tried changing us back." he couldn't look the Giant in the eye. "I saw your iron body lying there and, well, it's a part of you."

The Giant's white eyes humbled, "What's it look like?" he smiled slightly, embarrassed.

Hogarth tugged at his shirt, also embarrassed and smiling. "Like the Terminator without his face and Jack Skellington combined." He admitted. "You don't know them, do you?"

The Giant nodded with a hilariously grim look.

"It is that bad?" he asked.

"Eh… gruesome." Hogarth muttered.

"Hideous."

There was a sharp change to Hogarth's tone. "No," he refuted. "You look beautiful."

The Giant was confused.

"I made that mistake before and I'm not making it again."

With those words he prevented what could have been another emotional breakdown, Hogarth was certain that this time it would have been the both of them.

"I know you love me, but don't be scared to tell me how you feel. Even if it hurts me."

The Giant's bass voice was gentle as he said this.

Okay, maybe it would have just been Hogarth.

He rubbed at his neck and looked away. "It'll…"

"It'll take some getting used to."

They looked at each other and smiled.

The Giant suddenly held out his arms with a hopeful expression.

Hogarth gladly went into them and snuggled up against the Giant's chest. The automaton, for the first time ever, held a human being against him while he was in his robot form; even if it was only half of his former self. He then raised Hogarth up to his lantern-jawed cheeks and hugged him against the left one. There was an obvious relaxing the two felt doing this.

"That's more like it," the Giant said with his eyes closed.

"Mmm." Hogarth agreed.

As the Giant helped the now sore-legged Hogarth onto his shoulder they could both see how much freer the robot moved. He met Hogarth's curious eyes with his own and let his head fall back as he rustled the cords in his body. In giddy discovery, the Giant held out his arms and moved them back into place. He noticed Hogarth's balance issues and tried offering his assistance to a piece of metal that didn't move to which he was shooed away.

"Don't give me that," Hogarth grinned at him, "Keep your paws back and your tail tucked ."

" 'Don't get excited.' " The Giant rephrased in disappointment.

"No, get excited. Just don't help me move." He sighed haggardly and shifted his weight so that he could sit down comfortably. "We have to find those kids." Hogarth motioned over at his backpack with the sleeping bag mysteriously missing. "You don't want it, trust me."

His belongings were returned to him anyways.

"We should go further into the city," the Giant suggested. "Abba could assist us."

"All right, sounds good." Hogarth stood up. "Let's just-," and then something stuck out… in his pants. He and the Giant were pleasantly surprised. Gently but without hesitation, the bigger of the two reached out his now slimmed cord hand and pulled down the big tab of the overalls which contained the small but large rod head. Then the fingers unscrewed the left bolt holding up the Giant's jaw. Hogarth pulled out a small bottle and lubed his cock.

They turned to look at each other with a smile before coming together. It fit in easier then either of them thought it would, though there was never really any doubt it would. There was a stiffening of the Giant's body and he let out a gravelly sigh, his legs began buckling as even his lessened weight suddenly became too much. Instinct took over and the Giant rotated his jaw as Hogarth clasped the bolt he had taken from his fingers, clinging to his friend's exposed wires for support. He released a sigh of pleasure of his own and tugged the shirt out of his pants. Hogarth then pressed himself closer to the Giant and revolved himself – huge gut and all – against the thick wiring. There was a earth-shaking collapse.

The Giant was on his knees. He barely held it there, his body shifting from side-to-side.

Hogarth was ruthless as he dug in deeper, but the Giant balanced himself and shoved his jaw gently with his free hand. The other holding Hogarth's back pushed him in closer to the Giant's cheek and he finally felt himself go limp. With the last amount of strength in him, Hogarth did a quick side to side that brought the Giant out of his realm of control and caused him to bury his shoulder into a pile of antiques. He copied Hogarth for the final time and slid his loose jaw from side to side. His friend nearly fell face first off of his shoulder but the Giant caught him carefully. Than he, himself, fell flat on his back.

The two were immovable for the next ten or so minutes.

Finally, though, Hogarth rolled off his back and nudged his giant wiry friend.

"Kay, pal. Time to get up." He actually located where the Giant's antenna was lodged midway inside the slot on his head, fully exposed. "I'm going to give this thing a tug."

Hogarth somehow managed to successfully yank it out of his friend's cranium.

A little reluctantly, the Giant rose to his feet. He tapped Hogarth's shoulder for his screw – who in turn handed it to him with a sheepish grin – and the two secured their respective fasteners while turning away awkwardly but modestly. There was no shame for what they were doing but neither of them derived a perverse pleasure from their actions. They were simply calm and even a little bit proud that they could come so close together physically.

"The kids." The Giant looked down at Hogarth and noted matter-of-factly. "Pygmy."

"Yep." He turned uneasy. "We have to find them… do you think we got carried away?"

His friend grew concerned as well. "I hope not." he was about to say more when a familiar rumble in his gut sounded. Hogarth laughed out loud and gestured over at a big red couch.

"Better get your sentiment from me and not your antiques, pal, or you'll go hungry!"

The Giant chuckled in his wire-ringed throat before kneeling for the sofa. He was about to collect the springs sticking out when a pair of fingers identical to his old ones plucked the silver strings out and brought them up to a clone's mouth; Hogarth and he were shocked.

"Uh, Giant."

"Hogarth?"

"Say summin," he muttered, "He's your clone… kid."

"Um… Pygmy?"

It started munching on it's find.

"Boys?" Nothing. "Abba?" The Giant thought for a moment. "Hogarth, the Iron Giant?"

"Giant?" It spoke after a quick swallow.

Hogarth could still feel his translator from long ago. "Can you take us to her?" he asked.

It turned to him. "Hogarth." it said plainly as the man messed with his aluminum retainer.

"You must be Sputnik, the droid that was left for her." The Giant enthused.

Hogarth didn't comment. "We need to get there right away." The clone "Sputnik" lifted up the Giant's lanky arm and tapped at it's chin like a tailor unpleased with the sleeve of a suit.

"Um…" The Giant tried to be pleasant. "We need to find some boys and another clone."

"Boys and Abba. Pygmy!" It replied as it examined it's own iron metal.

"Somehow I don't think he's as socialized as you." Hogarth said to his still wire-bound pal.

"We should probably move on." The Giant agreed, growing more serious as they headed into what was left of the city. "This place has been demolished. Look at this odd tubing."

Just as they were about to examine what looked to be gigantic titanium snakes spiraling out from everywhere, Sputnik caught his father's arms and started snagging at his wires. Hogarth flew into a panic and reached for his friend to transmute but he simply couldn't stop the much younger droid with his own strong iron hide, he was horrified and on the brink of screaming when the antenna on the Giant's head slid out: _Beep… Beep…Beep…_

Hogarth almost laughed, it was like a renaissance greater than him being in his twenties again for a night. The metal seemed to slip away from Sputnik in a liquid blue and then reshape itself in a strong compound of metal. It was then, as the Giant had been several times before, that he was restored to his former glory. He looked up at his donor, which he now saw resembled his internal self, without the words to summon his deepest thanks.

The Giant then turned to Hogarth, expecting the same reaction. There was something in his friend's eyes that made him look longer than he normally would. Hogarth had run the gamut of horror and joy with him but now he was just dead silent. He stood staring back

at the Giant as if he were accusing him without knowing he was. The Giant remembered this look; it was the look he got whenever he brought up the missile incident so long ago.

"We need to reach Abba, can you take us to her?" When Hogarth spoke he was formal.

The Giant's stomach sank; he was too formal, robotic. He was… an adult.

Sputnik nodded and jetted off.

"Hogarth?" the Giant tried to coax his friend back to life. This couldn't be happening.

"Let's just get going," the man whispered. He wouldn't look the Giant in the eye even as they followed the dematerialized clone in flight. Whatever Hogarth knew he wouldn't say.

**II.**

There were a lot of things to be concerned about and Abba's home was an immediate one.

Pygmy became positively smitten with the layout of the castle. In fact, so did Taylor.

"Wow, look Jean." He touched one of the rough gilded banisters that bordered a wide staircase leading up to a one-level expanse of foyer surrounded by pillars of matching color and texture. His fingers traced a cracked green jewel. "It's like a Disney castle."

"Yeah, sure." The older boy started up the stairs. "If you're into the junkyard version. Look, Jean." he tapped on red and blue jewels several steps up. "These gems are off of some guy's cop car and hey, look, the rest of them look like reflectors off a kid's bike."

"Geez," Taylor puzzled over the strange architecture. "Remember what Mom said about Grandpa Dean and how he was an artist?" he asked as they walked up the stairs together.

"Yeah, something about working with junk or something. Real weird. Listen, we gotta go home." Jean reasoned and his little brother nodded. "Don't do nothin' to upset this Abba woman. Just let me talk to her and be calm and reasonable. Maybe she can send us back."

"To the past?" Taylor ventured.

Jean swallowed slightly. "Yeah, the past."

The two finally arrived at the top. "Maybe we could like, go tell everyone about what we have in 2000 and, like, prevent all the wars and everything." The five-year-old spread out his arms and began weaving and bobbing through the pillars even at his brother's warning that he'd fall off. "Or maybe, maybe we could find cures for diseases and cancers, Jeanie!"

"What'd I say about calling me Jeanie?"

Taylor stopped pretending to be a plane. "Uh… not to."

"Correct."

Jean walked over to take his brother's hand and the two entered the warm atmosphere of a tall chamber room. Taylor ooed and awed over the beautiful ceiling of a blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds. The older of the two brothers was instantly wondering where the Sistine Chapel was when a woman dressed in a long flowing green robe suddenly appeared from across the room. She touched her cheek and then floated over to greet the two boys.

…

"Well, are you not two funny little men." Abba said as she approached her guests.

These _men_ had the clothing of Lower Middle Zephyron citizens but as she drew closer the woman could see that their faces resembled hers in her youth. She had been the last known child born on earth and was in fact the youngest person in existence. Abba stalled, the little men covered in dirt had hints of red, blue and tan under their begrimed apparel. Their tiny knees were showing – unusual – and their hair was tousled in a way Abba could remember her own hair being as a child. She covered her mouth and stared to shake with enthusiasm.

"Uh, Abba?" Jean asked as his brother hid behind him.

The vibrating woman let out a shriek as she jumped up and down excitedly. Her straight auburn hair bounced with her and fanned out over the clearly freaked out brothers as she wrapped her arms around them. "Oh my! You cannot be!" Taylor whimpered as she kept getting louder. "Are you two…?" Abba rubbed her hands together, kneeling, "_Children_?"

"Yes." The smallest boy spoke, though he still tried to conceal himself behind Jean.

"EEEEEEEEEE!" She squealed in delight. "Oh, I've always WANTED children!" Abba gathered them up in her arms again but Jean managed to fend her off and protect Taylor.

"Can you get us back home or what?" he spat.

"Please, tell me." The woman kept talking, unaffected. "How are children made?"

Both brothers stared at her with wide eyes.

"We don't know." Jean finally said woodenly.

Abba's face fell slightly. "Oh." she recovered and tried to mask her deflation with a kind smile. "Well then, can you at least tell me who your parents are? Where you come from?"

"We're from the past," Taylor appeared beside his brother. "From the year 2000."

He ignored Jean's glare.

"Well, are you not just a dearie!" Abba took the boy under the arms and lifted him up into the air. "I do not suppose…" she paused and held him at her level. "The past? You are…"

"Hogarth's nephews? Yep. That's us."

"And you're his daughter," Taylor added gleefully. "That makes us cousins!"

Abba was stunned into silence. Jean tried to reason with her as Ivan had with Tress.

" 'K look, there's this evil robot named Gold who's like the Giant's wife or something and she's trying to take control of Pygmy and conquer the world and stuff. We need you to, I don't know, stop her and save the world. If you can get us home that'd be nice too. A guy named Tree or something is in trouble too and he's your guys' friend. So, can ya help us?"

"Tress?" Abba backed away. "Oh, God." she caught her heart.

"Sorry, lady." Taylor mumbled as Jean tried to steady her, apologizing.

"I-I-I, I cannot help you." She turned away from them.

"Why not!.?" The oldest boy yelled at her and his brother started crying. "We're hungry and we're tired and we wanna go HOME!" When Abba turned back to look at them she seemed saddened over her resolution not to assist, even Jean was crying over this news.

"Because Hogarth Hughes is not what you think, despite the good things you have been told." She approached them, speaking coldly and forcefully. "He took advantage of my birth mother Kina! My cousin Trina told me this herself. He forced himself on another teenaged girl from his own time too, a personal close friend of Trina's. I am the result

of forced birth! Do not be fooled children, by his loving nature and kind words. There

was a point where he even attempted to annihilate my true father, the Giant, at what you and I would call a wormhole to the past." her eyes burned hot with tears as she informed the terrified boys all of this, she tried to conceal her hostility but it still simmered over as she finally composed herself. "Garth Hughes is a liar, a skilled manipulator and he shall do anything in his power to invade the privacy between your legs. Do not fall for his acting!"

"That explains what Mom said on the way up to Grandma's," Jean muttered.

"That's not true, Jean." Taylor tugged at his arm. "Uncle Garth's-,"

"We can't trust'im, Taylor." The boy glared into his eyes. "We can't trust anyone here."

"I am sorry boys," Abba approached the one with medium brown hair and blue eyes. Her hand stroked along his cheek. She smiled, wistful. "What I would not give for a son." Jean didn't pull away but Taylor kept his distance. "I believe what you say about Gold, Jeanie."

"Ivan's in trouble." The child backed away, he spoke seriously. "We've gotta help him."

"I am afraid…" Abba laced her fingers together. "That too is out of my control, dears."

"You don't understand," Taylor tried reasoning. "The Giant's in trouble too. Everyone."

"She…" the woman was struck in realization. "She is going to try to use the Marketer's project for her own personal use, if she has not already." There was suddenly a floating white scooter at her side. She and the boys turned to see a middle-aged woman with a vibrant gray streak running along her roots. Her long, straight brown hair draped over what could have been a twenty-year-old's body in tight mint green. "Trina? I cannot-,"

"I have kept you here long enough, dear cousin." She placed the scooter's handles firmly in Abba's grasp. Her hazel eyes were wet but warm. "Go. Go see your little friends off."

With a grateful smile, Abba gave her second cousin a big one-armed hug – who gave her one in return with a smile – and turned to her other second cousins. The boys raced over quickly and hitched their legs over the 'antique' floating scooter. Pygmy was ignored as they ascended rapidly through the pillars. Trina walked over to stand at the castle's edge.

"Arrow," She said the first name that came to her mind as her dark green droid walked up to stand behind her. "I am going to direct Hogarth's goddaughter to a safe location, than I would like for you to come with me for a… a little trip." Destiny glittered in her eyes now.

**III.**

"Some of you are afraid," Golden moved like a general in front of her new draftees. She in no way, shape or form had any trouble in keeping these former Omega citizens in line. The ones who were scientists or other more intelligible citizens were indefinitely silent. No one defied her. "But I would like to appease your fears. Your time on this earth will either end or begin again, I am not quite sure which will happen. However, you are not to revolt. The Giant is your genetic donor, not your father or your maker. He is your _model_. Kina, as I know you all remember her or have at least heard about, is the reason you are alive here today. The reason why she is dead is her own doing. _But_," Gold stopped amongst all of the wreckage and her voice was unbelievably chipper. "_I _am the source behind what was once thought to be a legend; the Android Marketer's project. I had my own reasons for making it which will soon become clear." she was dramatically lethal. "I dare anyone to challenge me." They did not. "Than we have only to wait. Our guests will arrive soon."

Hogarth, the Giant, Abba, Pygmy or, even better, Trina herself.

Either way, Gold knew that they would fight tooth and nail for Ivan. She unfolded her digits and saw what had become of little Ivan Grant after she had used the Marketer's project to scan the Iron Giant's endoskeleton; he was small, deformed and shriveled as what was left of him lay in her cold brass palm. Even wearing the warm clothes he had shrunk out of did not help him. Gold merely covered him again and stared out fatefully.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	15. The Skeleton Key: Part 3 of 3

**I. – **On the way to Middle Zephyron, twenty minutes in…

Abba steered the ancient scooter she would play on as a child over miles of crop fields imported from Greece thirty years earlier. People stared up from their harvesters which consisted of tractor-colored sub-droids helping matching-suited families do their work.

"How fast we goin' on this thing, anyway?" Jean yelled over the piercing gales.

"Nine-hundred!" his cousin called back. The wind blew against their faces and garbled most of what they said. "It has been…" she sucked in a breath. "_Years_ since I did this."

"Do they come in black?.!" Taylor shouted.

"Hey!" Jean was then struck by the obvious. "At nine-hundred miles an hour, how're-?,"

They screamed out loud as Abba drove the porcelain-like scooter down and scraped the bottom against the five-hundred-foot tall Iron Rails. Their wails only increased as sparks – only several however – flew up in a spray of orange. Abba then ascended off the trestles.

She grinned back at the gasping boys.

"Our atmosphere is not as strong as it used to be, even though it was replenished."

The oldest boy talked through his pants, "Less air, less friction."

"Exactly!" She laughed.

"How's that make us go faster?" Taylor inquired as they eased into a straight line.

"Airliners at nine-hundred take a few hours." Jean added.

"Hmm." The woman considered this. "I am not sure. Perhaps less friction, less time."

Finally the boys were laughing at the illogic of it all and she joined in with them.

Mid-morning light led Abba to drop her amusement. The city was in disarray. Buildings, not just the ones she had seen in the center of Middle Zephyron, were crumbled into mere rubble. The fans and giant chrome-colored poles looped in and out of the brick and mortar wreckage. She slowed her scooter as she began to realize that she had been correct on her passing assumption; her mother _had_ meant to do something else. It did not make sense to Abba and yet… her mother had never said goodbye to her. Her father had not told her he loved her. Tears formed in her eyes. Where was he? Still airborne, Abba descended now.

"What'cha doin'?" The smallest child asked. He was so innocent.

"I want you to stay here," she said, not looking at them.

"What?.!" Jean was flabbergasted. "First Ivan, now _you_? What kind of family are you?"

"How come everyone keeps abandoning us?" Taylor whimpered.

"Oh, no, no." Abba slipped off the ivory scooter and had to use one hand to keep it from drifting off as she consoled the boy with her other. "My child, I am merely going to rectify what has been done wrong." he blinked. "I am going to make things right." she smiled. As if she were his own mother, Abba planted a delicate kiss on his forehead and glided away.

The boys stared after her dishearteningly.

"Well, my loves…"

She saw her own abandonment reflected in their eyes; Abba was rendered six again.

Had she ever really stopped being six?

"I am afraid… I most grow up now." They were on the verge of tears again. "It is not safe for you to go with me." she was floating further away now and they ran to try to catch up.

Their little hands raised up in the air now as it seemed they begged for her to include them.

"I shall go, little ones. You must stay behind and not follow."

Abba sped off in a puff of air.

…

Taylor cried.

This time, Jean did not console him. He just stood there staring out blankly.

"What'd we do, Jean?" his dirt-coated brother asked. "What'd we gonna _do_?"

Irritation flared inside of the preadolescent's chest and heated the back of his neck and ears. His brother continued to weep and ask him over and over again the same question

he had asked since they had left. Jean clenched his hands into fists. How he wished his baby brother was gone. How he wished the little boy was back in their mother's overly protective care. That was it, Taylor could go with Grandma Julie and creepy old Uncle Garth. Jean started to smile in a kind of twisted way. A solution stood right before him.

"Jean, what'd ya doin'?" Still red-eyed, Taylor had finally stopped crying.

His big brother started towards him with his head dipping forward intently. The little boy put his hands up with a worried expression and tried to conceal his face. Jean wasn't fully aware of what he was doing. He grasped his bewildered brother's wrists and lifted him up.

"Jean?" Taylor squeaked.

Suddenly the eleven-year-old could hear the sound of his own breathing and he saw that his little brother was looking into his eyes in fear of him. He gasped back a breath and let the child down gently. Taylor seemed to understand his change of heart and gave a smile.

"Sorry," he offered.

"S'kay." Jean placed a hand on his shoulder. "I guess… I got caught up in the moment."

Taylor reached out to give him a hug and Jean reluctantly accepted it. Just then Taylor got snagged on one of his shoe laces and stumbled backwards. Jean jumped headfirst, catching his little brother by the wrists. His feelings of weary frustration were replaced by true fear.

"Taylor!"

"Jean!"

"You gotta climb up me, you're too far down for me to pull you up on my own."

The five-year-old's face screwed up, "I can't," he said, his baby teeth showing.

"You gotta!" Jean encouraged. "Think of Ash from Pokemon."

"I hate Pokemon!"

"Think of Goku from Dragon Ball Z!"

"I hate Dragon Ball Z!" Taylor said fast. His griping was becoming humorous.

Jean grinned and laughed. "How 'bout Superman?"

The little boy grinned back. "I hate Superman!"

Their new game grew more serious as Taylor started slipping. "Okay… uh, Spiderman?"

"Nope!" There was a sudden tug on Jean's arms as his brother kept talking. "Batman!"

"Batman?.!" The older boy complained as Taylor scrambled up him. "What about Robin?"

"What about'im?" He was up on the tracks and talking like nothing had happened. "I got Batman toys for Christmas and my Robin doll looks like a fruit loop, you know that Jean."

"I know," he chuckled. "That's why I brought it up. I'm Batman and you're Robin."

"You're not either!" Taylor got up on his toes and yelled.

A wiry skeleton surfaced right in front of them.

The two were frozen for one moment and than they both released a scream to rival that of any they had uttered before. As they tried running back and forth before stopping and then trying to go the other way, their curious onlooker watched in his mid-flight. His eyes were as white as the moon under the shroud of cloud cover and this attention made Taylor stop.

"Do you know Pygmy?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, Taylor. The huge wire freak is gonna _freakin' _know Ivan's robot sister."

"Worth a shot." Taylor told him with a smile.

"Pygmy?" His voice was like hers but slightly gravellier and less feminine.

"Hogarth?"

"Giant." Jean took charge and said deliberately. "The Iron Giant. We've heard that he's here." he saw the look in the wire being's eyes that he was looking for. "Take us to him."

"You gotta say "please", Jean." Taylor said, he was forever a stickler for good manners.

"Shut up, Taylor. We're going home. If anyone can get us there it's Rockwell's legend."

…

The Giant stood staring into the river Hogarth had collected the roaches from.

His friend in question was crouched and using plastic wrap to cover the empty chili cans with the live insects inside. Seeing as they were probably going to be there a while, since the Giant had refused to leave without an explanation as to Hogarth's mysterious attitude,

they were going to need to stock up on whatever food was available. The iron man sighed.

Hogarth didn't turn to acknowledge him.

"Hogarth, we need to talk. I know that you never fully recovered, but this is ridiculous."

He still didn't say anything to the Giant.

"It's been years. _Decades_. Don't you think it's time to let the past _be in the past_?"

Hogarth scoffed quietly. "Giant, I can't believe you just said that. I got on with my life."

The robot waited.

"So what if I never got over the Rockwell missile thing? It's not like we can change it."

"I wouldn't change it for the world."

Hogarth froze. His hands were mid-rummage and his face was crushed.

The Giant straightened a little behind him, waiting but resolute.

With another huffed breath, Hogarth threw his bag over his shoulder and went to take up residency by the river where his friend had stood. It occurred to him then, looking at his lumpy clothes and mad scientist hair, that this large, clear water stream was probably an entirely different stream then had been in his time, it probably had a new, different name.

Suddenly the Giant stomped to stand beside his friend.

They looked worlds apart; the Giant in his missile scorched iron and Hogarth… the more he concentrated on himself the more he saw that he was no different then the people who had made up Rockwell in 1957. For the first time ever, he could see an old man standing there. Hogarth could see that he _looked_ just like one of the townspeople, entirely normal.

The Giant placing his hand on Hogarth's back dissipated this illusion. It brought him back and reminded him that he wasn't one of them; was this relief Hogarth felt? When the Iron Giant spoke it was directed to his heart: "A robot couldn't ask for a better human friend."

Hogarth smiled and saw a little of himself returning, he cuddled the Giant's fingers.

"I love you, Hogarth." His friend's reflected yellow eyes lightened the scorch marks on his iron, the very thing that had scorched Hogarth's heart since his teenaged years. The grown man turned to his best friend and smiled. Humbled delight entered the Giant's eyes and he picked Hogarth up. Bringing him up to his shoulder, the two embraced happily. They both turned to face one another for a moment as it suddenly dawned on them where their years-old friendship was at this point. Hogarth looked down for a moment, looked up bravely at his friend – who was ready as well – and the two leaned in to the exchange their first kiss.

…

From a distance, Jean and Taylor could see a giant robot as tall as their new circuit board friend who obediently landed and bent down for them to get off. As Taylor turned to give him an appreciate look, Jean became fixed on the robot's actions. Was his eyes correct? If

so, than he was seeing a human kissing the giant robot. He rubbed at them to make sure he was seeing right. The two distant figures were separate now in their slight silhouettes. As Jean tugged on one his brother's arms he discovered that he was instead pulling on one of the wire man's circuits. Panicked, he turned to see that Taylor was sprinting headlong for whoever was in the distance. Jean hopped off the wire-taut hand and gave chase after him.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	16. Of ragtags and regroupings

**I. **

"What are you doing here?.!"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Trina was flying inside her dark green saucer of a droid which was one of three surviving droids that still transmuted by human touch. Abba was astride the scooter her cousin had given her but the woman now saw that the droid repair worker had not intended for this.

"I _thought _you were showing your little friends home."

"Did not say that as if I am still a child, Trina!"

The woman made a disgruntled noise, "You are a child, Abba, now and forever."

She pressed her droid forward towards what Abba at first thought were the buildings of Middle Zephyron hidden under the shadow of cloud. When she saw a mute golden gleam and bright orange eyes in front of a sea of white-eyed ones, Abba knew exactly then what her cousin was doing. Trina met her frightened gaze and a softening to her usual strictness seemed to affect her again as it had back at the gilded palace. The two cousins weaved and bobbed through the main core of the Android Marketer's Project – which consisted of the huge, dark silver poles bunching much closer together – and aligned themselves as Golden reached out her large hand for them. Abba hopped nimbly off of the scooter right into the open cockpit of her cousin's saucer. The cold white object hurtled for her mother's palm.

"ARR-RAGAH!" Gold screeched as her hand flew off.

Her "daughter" gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.

"Never mind that." Trina switched backed and dove for a falling form.

They were in such a rush that they accidentally snatched up the person who had caught what Abba quickly mentioned to her cousin was her brother. Before she could get out a single word as to explaining this she realized Tress was cradled in her arms as he cradled what appeared to be a deformed little boy. Abba was even more terrified than she'd been before. Still clearly upset over the hologram fiasco, Tress fitted himself behind the woman.

Abba relaxed a little when she saw that the strange child was harmless to hold.

"I suppose an apology is an order," she didn't look back.

"I suppose explaining how the hell Hogarth and Taylor's son Ivan is the blueprints for this secret project I have never heard about, how Ivan changed into this mangled thing we now have before us and howIvan's _two cousins _oh so randomly ended up in our time, will do."

He made no reservations about directing most of his rant to the droid pilot.

"Trina." The younger woman slowly grew suspicious. "Do you know of the project?"

Trina suddenly turned from her controls to speak with them.

"You're letting her drive herself?" Even Tress was surprised by this.

"Arrow knows where to go." She looked them both in the eye. "It is time you two learned what went on after Hogarth and Taylor's departure, even before the Giant and Gold left.."

"Archer… Arrow." Tress mused.

"What does my mother really intend to do with the Android Marketer's Project, Trina?"

Abba planned to no longer be uninvolved as she held her helpless half-brother in her arms.

**II.**

Hogarth moved his eyes and lips away. The Giant started for a moment, afraid that he had done something wrong. But his line of vision actually led to something nearly as tall as the Giant himself standing a football field away. It was purple-ish in color. Hogarth narrowed his eyes and saw that there appeared to be shades of it like lavender and plum with yellow.

He gasped. There was _two _separate colors of soft yellow near the top of the creature.

"Pygmy," Hogarth smiled wide. "Pygmy!"

Before he or the Giant could react the robot burst forward in a blaze of orange.

"Hogarth!" She trilled as she shifted in a blue haze to her cat form.

The man hugged her against his chest and swung her back and forth in his arms.

"Oh, Pygmy." He half-cried. "Oh, baby. I thought I'd lost you." She was smiling, sad but happy too, when Hogarth turned to look at her. "I'm so sorry you were lost. I almost left without you, I-," Pygmy placed an iron plum paw on his mouth. Her lower shutters fell as she cocked her head and swiveled her ears. Hogarth's eyes shined with tears as he smiled and hugged her again. There was a sudden tap on the man's shoulder. Hogarth looked up.

The Giant had his mandible raised as he pointed out two smaller figures in the distance.

"Who on earth…?" Hogarth wondered as he squinted beneath the sudden cloud cover.

A storm seemed to be brewing.

"Hogarth?" Pygmy inquired.

He laughed and gave her a third rocking hug, "I swear my eyesight's going... I love you."

"I love you too." She nuzzled her head against his chest.

The robot then changed back into her normal form and gave the Giant a literally big hug.

Hogarth admired the two giants embracing for a moment when an idea hit him.

"Pygmy, is that Jean and Taylor?" He pointed to the figures who were wandering closer.

"I found Ivan," She said softly. Hogarth's eyes widened. "He's not with me, Hogarth."

He looked back at the Giant – who afforded him a calm, knowing look – and nodded.

"One thing at a time." He assured his goddaughter.

…

Jean pulled Taylor along with him towards the towering Iron Giant near the edge of the demolished city. He was bleary-eyed, weak and back in the same mood he had previously been in. The boy was starting to wish that his brother wasn't fighting to keep from falling asleep. SpudNike or whatever it was this wire freak called himself had flown them to the spot where he thought the Giant might be. That was all these giant robots were good for apparently; it wasn't like they had any cool weapons or anything. The 11-year-old sighed.

"I see the Giant Taylor," Somehow he wasn't surprised by robots anymore, this could all be a dream to the boy. "He's lookin' at us from the distance." When he turned around he saw that his Potato robot friend was gone and that his brother was merely dangling now.

"The Giant?" He peered up at Jean.

"It's not like he's any different from Pygmy or wire guy. Now come _on!_"

Taylor stumbled forward and rubbed at his eyes. "There's someone who looks 2000-iny."

Jean came to stand beside him. "Yeah, it does." he stepped closer. "Who's the fat guy?"

"That's no fat guy that's Uncle Garth!" His brother was beaming.

The older boy was suddenly rendered ambivalent: on the one hand it was someone who was actually from their own time, on the other hand it was Uncle Garth. No sooner had Jean turned to look at his brother again did he see the little boy running happily forward like nothing Abba had said was important. Jean yelled his brother's name but didn't see any effort on the five-year-old's part to stop. Grunting, he chased after his little brother.

…

Hogarth's reaction to seeing his nephews here was surprising for both parties, what was even more surprising was how both of the boys reacted. The Giant and Pygmy watched curiously as the children ran right for their uncle like they had always been close to him.

"Uncle Garth!" Taylor ran into his arms first.

"Uncle." Jean joined him.

"Hey, wait! Take it easy." Hogarth hugged them like he had always known them.

"You found us! You found us!" Taylor cheered as he looked up at him.

"I can't believe you came all this way just for us." Jean was baffled.

Taylor looked at his brother as if he should have known better.

Hogarth was firm but honest. "You're my nephews." he placed his right hand on the boy's messy hair. "You're family. That's never gonna change, little buddy." Taylor moved to try and pull up his uncle's left sleeve. Hogarth smirked and yanked it up to show him the nub.

"Heh," Jean smirked back. "That's our uncle all right."

Taylor turned to him inquiringly.

"Only a real uncle shows his battle scars, Taylor. A dad spanks and a grandpa takes pills."

"Hmm." Hogarth peered up at the Giant, observing his "battle scars". His humor was lost.

The oldest boy swallowed as his brother hid behind him.

"What… what did you say about the Giant again, Jean?" Taylor whispered.

Rockwell's legend was indeed not an average robot.

"W-w-w-what are you talkin' about, Taylor?"

"That his son named Sponge Nick was a huge freaky fruit loop cause all he got is wires."

The Giant's white eyes twinkled when he heard this.

"Uh… hi." Jean stood stock-still. The Giant was old, yes, but he looked upon the two boys who were Hogarth and Julie's descendents with warmth and affection. He slowly lowered two of his fingers out for them, not forcing a reaction. Jean would not move…

He could not move.

His mother's words fell flat as his brother's dreams were realized.

"Are you Superman?" Taylor asked in the quietest of voices.

It occurred to Hogarth then that he had never told them about IG's Superman penchant.

"Did you just make that up Taylor?" He asked.

The boy nodded. Jean wrinkled his forehead. "The Giant thinks he's Superman?"

Taylor was not to be deterred. "You like Superman?" he asked in the same quiet manner.

"Yes," the Giant's rumble of a voice was gentle.

"I like Batman better." He tempted. Once the boy said this he waited.

The Giant blinked a roving shutter blink. "Superman." he said plainly.

"Batman." Taylor grew braver.

"Superman." The Giant stood a little.

He wasn't as agreeable as before, this subject was not up for negotiation.

"Batman." The boy walked up from behind his brother.

"Superman." The Giant straightened to full height.

"Batman!" Taylor argued.

"Super-,"

"Giant."

"Hogarth?"

"Cool it."

The Giant glared at the five-year-old childishly and Taylor glared back. Just when Hogarth was about to step in between them someone with a startling shade of yellowish-white hair approached the group in dark green coveralls. When the two men saw each other it was as if time decided to go on strike and merely stopped. Heads turned to confirm that it hadn't.

"Well… I'll be damned." Hogarth shook his head with an amazed smile. "Tress."

A familiar shy smile appeared on the man's thin oval face, "How are you, Hogarth?"

Again as with Pygmy the fifty-five-year-old fought back tears.

"Well, c'mere and give me a hug!" He swiped his arm up and back. "Everyone else has."

Tress's smile turned polite. "No, thank you," he turned what he held in his arms forward.

Hogarth's good nature was replaced by an astonished gasp as his thirty-five-year-old son was handed to him wrapped in a dark green jumpsuit. It briefly registered in his memory that whatever the material was made out of was completely warm and insolating. A hand found Hogarth's back and he couldn't even bring himself to see which giant robot it was.

All that mattered was that his son was in his arms.

"Oh," he brought Ivan quickly up to his chest, speaking in an emotional hush, "My son."

"Is he gonna be okay?" A distant voice asked, possibly from a little boy. Taylor, was it?

The resting hand on Hogarth's back reached it's fingers around and gently stroked the hair that belonged to Johnston Hughes. He remembered then that his mother had once told him that his hair was tinted red from hers but at the roots was a medium brown from his father.

"Hogarth," The Giant's voice was barely audible as his had been. "He looks just like you."

"Is that a joke?" Jean's sarcasm finally brought him out of his daze.

He looked at his nephews gratefully. "Thank you, boys. I know that you had to play a part in this." Tress finally approached Hogarth and accepted the aforementioned hug. "So…?"

"So what?" the lanky man stepped back.

"38? 39?"

"What?" He flashed a dulled white smile. "With these looks? I could pass for thirty."

Hogarth belted out a laugh and rocked his son back and forth. "I can't thank you enough."

"What about Taylor?" Tress mentioned seriously.

"Oh," Everyone turned to the Giant, "What did you say you're name was again?"

They then turned to the five-year-old boy.

"Uh, Taylor."

"He meant his girlfriend, dumbass."

"_Hey_." Hogarth was suddenly on his case. "Your tongue, kid."

"What'd you care?" Jean shrugged his arms. "You got a vegetable to take care of. Why do you even care about us anymore? We'll go home to Mom and Dad and they won't either."

An awkward silence followed.

"Taylor," Hogarth indicated the stringed back between the Giant and Pygmy. "There's a soda and a can of chili in the bag, why don't you get something to eat little buddy." The man didn't have to look at the Giant to indicate his need for back-up, he knew he could count on him. Tress seemed to have flinched a little at the "little buddy" part though. "I guess "big buddy" is out of the equation, huh?" he joked feebly. The man smiled a little.

"Let's just reserve that for the Giant, please."

"Jean." He handed his now awakening son to Pygmy. The deformed man looked just as he had to him the day Hogarth had been separated from him; he had always assumed the agency Rob and Dan had been involved with was to blame. Hogarth might never know.

"Leave me alone." He backed away. "Abba told me everything I needed to know."

"Speak of the angel." When Tress said this he was both glad and irritated.

A person wearing an out-of-place, off white tweed suit stood between two piles of rubble. Everyone watched him or her and didn't seem to hear Jean as he let out a scream over his chili can. Taylor screamed as well, pointing at the ground and hopping around with his big brother in an odd sort of dance. They went to stand by Pygmy as the newest arrival came.

The Giant was the one to do the hugging now as Abba walked clear across the grainy earth towards him and then right into his hand. Tress seemed to guess what Hogarth's feelings were as he walked up to stand beside his old friend and touch his shoulder in a way that was meant to convey his understanding. This, however, didn't lessen his worry.

"It took me a long time to really come to terms with your actions, Garth." This nickname made him turn to Tress. "And a little bit longer to accept them. I know you hold prejudice to Kina, you may even very well despise her, but look at Abba," he motioned to Pygmy as she hugged the person to her; Abba's face was still obscured. "Does she truly look harmful to you? It's true she may have some of the blind ambition her mother and, perhaps even to an extent, Archer had but she is beginning to see the price of chasing ambitions to far. You must put Kina in the past," Hogarth looked down at his boots, "And give Abba a chance."

Fear gripped his heart as he finally shook Tress's hand from his shoulder. Hogarth had no desire to see this _thing _Kina had spawned using his DNA. He had no want in the world to know that Abba or whatever it was called was doing well. But most of all, he knew that if he didn't accept her, he could strain his friendship with the Giant. This wasn't only about them, this was about their children. Whoever this girl was, the Giant had raised her as he had raised Pygmy. Hogarth would have smiled at this thought if he wasn't totally scared.

When the two did finally meet eyes the Giant's told him that he understood but he didn't say anything. The Giant instead lowered the woman down and Hogarth finally got to see the product of his torment after so long, Kina's daughter… and he very nearly collapsed.

This woman wasn't a spawn or a cyborg, she was a beautiful woman with a medium bust and deep curves. Her hips were a little wide but that's not what made Hogarth nearly fall over, it was her face. It was round with gentle jade eyes and auburn hair that lay straight and long around her shoulders. Hogarth knew that there were differences but as he came closer to this woman he could swear that he saw traces of his mother in her face and hair.

The man just couldn't decide if she belonged to Kina or him.

Abba didn't move as he placed his hand on her cheek. There was a flicker of emotion to her otherwise reserved look as she turned the other way to stare at the ground. It was as though she too were afraid of a man she had spoken harshly of but had never met before.

"Abba." Hogarth braved.

When she looked back up there were tears in her eyes and a puffiness to her cheeks.

"It doesn't matter what happened in the past. You didn't do anything to cause it."

There was still some hesitation on their parts to accept one another.

Abba touched his hand and opened her mouth to speak.

"Did I not tell you to make your hellos and goodbyes short?" Gold appeared from out of nowhere, a band of the Giant clones weren't far behind. "Did you really think, Abba, that you could fool me with one of the fake teleportation devices Kina first gave to Hogarth?"

Trina was raised in her hand.

The Giant and Hogarth were beyond shocked, they were dumbstruck.

"I suggest you hand the time teleporter over, Abba."

The woman tilted her chin up, defiant. "Or what?" she challenged.

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~


	17. The rise of Dominatrix

**I. **

Hogarth immediately caught Abba's arm and yanked her back.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demanded as he stood in front of her.

The Giant took a noticeable shift in weight to stand slightly in front of Pygmy as well.

Tress handed a confused Jean his second cousin and stood in front of the two and Taylor.

"Golden…" The Giant was still in disbelief. "What are you doing?"

"I'll tell you what she's doing," Hogarth insinuated. "Gold's had a hand in this all along." His friend was still baffled when the man turned to him. "I didn't expect it but I did know she had it in her…" he met the robot's unusually calm orange eyes. "You murdered Kina."

Everyone – including the young boys who only reacted to the M word – gasped.

The fembot was silent as she waited for him to continue speaking:

"So it finally comes out," Hogarth did so, "Just like a jealous housewife, you're finally-,"

Gold slapped her fingers shut around Trina. She was crushed.

"NO!" Abba screamed and now Hogarth was silenced. Somehow Pygmy had stolen away with the two boys and Ivan as she had been taught by her godfather in Nam when things turned too intense. Abba's shrieking and crying, however, could not be stifled or hidden.

Every single slice of sorrow, every single moment of loss and loneliness in Hogarth's life was howled out in agony from his birth daughter's lips. He was too stunned to move and it was the first time he felt reality hit him. He had hidden from his family, his duty and his own life even. Now he was struck with a sharp breath as the Giant vengefully caught the brass robot by the shoulders; Hogarth knew it wasn't so much for Trina as it was for his daughter, Abba. Gold had just murdered Trina. He couldn't believe it, Trina was healthy.

Kina was dying.

One woman had tortured and deceived others.

The other woman had befriended and helped droids and humans alike.

Hogarth grew further mortified as the Giant gripped for Gold's heart.

"Giant, no." He said quickly. By now Abba's heart-wrenching sobbing was barely being contained in Tress's shoulder. The Giant's eyes burned an intense blue and white at the same time; common sense wasn't part of his logic now. "When I was in the army I was stuck in the food galley. I never saw blood on the battle field, I never killed anyone…"

The Giant didn't look at him but he didn't do anything to harm Gold.

"Don't kill her, Giant."

At this the large automaton took a step back with his former caregiver still in his hands.

"That's all right." Gold suddenly spoke. She poked her fingers into three places along the Giant's clone generated iron. "I know just how to do so." A few sharp turns and he was limp in her capable hold. Pieces of tattered green were stuck to red-soaked copper.

Pygmy suddenly appeared from behind and was caught in a similar hold.

"Gold, no!" Hogarth sent terrified looks back and forth between his loved ones.

"It's your choice, Hogarth." She was all business. "Either I get the teleporter or our old friends here become paralyzed." The Giant glanced up at her angrily as his eyes began to burn white like two intense suns. "I had many years to study your body, my dear. I even learned how to start the cars you rebuilt." An evilness glowed in her eyes. "Remember?"

"Here."

The three robots turned their attention back to Hogarth who held out a silver rectangle.

"You kept it." Gold was darkly elated.

She reached out immediately to take it in between her fingers.

"Why are you doing this?" Hogarth seethed as the Giant used his one good arm to drag a dejected Pygmy back over to his friend's side and then do the same for himself. "I already admitted I made a mistake by what I said to you in 2000, you didn't have to kill anyone!"

"You fool." She took a step back as the silver snake bodies surrounding them uprooted from the ground. Two giant blue eyes where the ironstone and memory box were now placed back inside the top of the apparently robotic structure stared straight ahead. "It never was about one person, it is about undoing what should have never happened. Oh, my dears, I tried living with it. Losing your loved ones is something no such being with sentience should ever have to deal with." Her eyes became rooted to the Giant's. "It is true, Giant, you should not have left me alone. But I planned this far ahead. You see, I

tried to see if I could stop your coming to 1957 altogether with the teleporter our good friend Taylor was provided with… it didn't work. That particular passageway is closed and so I had to open a new one, to do this I had to make a deal with Trant who was at that particular time still working closely with the deceased communist scientist Sergey."

What was now revealed to be a silver behemoth much larger then even the Giant started ascending with Gold on one of it's huge, moving arms. "Mr. Dimelo did not expect me to take control of this city." her eyes fell to the hopeless eyes of the three-hundred droids and retired people. "I am the one who transformed you into a human, Iron Giant," she pointed to the miniscule piece of silver between her fingers, "_I_, alone, am the one who created this beautiful specimen, The Android Marketer's project, behind Kina and Archer. I debated so long whether to use it or not it but now I know. " her orange eyes now burnt resentfully as they met Hogarth and the Giant's. "I will fix it so that you never save Rockwell, I shall fix the past as it is Hogarth's wish not to have you upstage him. I shall change all history!"

She rocketed to the top three-hundred-feet in the air and pressed on one of the two blue lights that had now centered out as official 'eyes'. The scene that played out under a dark canopy of clouds had been meant by the two participating in it to be kept secret, but there it was. Two human bodies moving together across the bare ground under the silver stars.

Hogarth, agape, stepped back from the Giant who sent him an agape look as well.

"This is what becomes of humans and droids interacting as equals!" Gold spoke loudly to the onlookers, clearly demonstrating her point. "I will tell you, this is what my machine is designed for. With the combination of the memory box and it's memory imprints, my new skeletal key to give droids an artificial structure…" she tilted her head forward as the Iron Giant realized the purpose of the blue flash that had temporarily left him vulnerable. "And of course the Giant's original iron ore to help us get through to 1957, your copied iron of weaker quality," Gold added to the confused clones, "You are going to become androids."

"No." Hogarth said. "You can't do that!"

"I knew he was a pervert."

Their attention was drawn back to Jean who had covered his squirming brother's eyes.

One look at Tress, who was now holding Ivan again, showed that he agreed.

"This proof only goes to show that Gold is right Hogarth, you've gone too far this time."

"I was the one to show him affection first." The Giant argued, slowly standing. "I was the one who tempted him." His deep voice then grew into a growl. "You can't punish them!"

Gold didn't so much as flinch as he pointed a black-streaked finger at her.

Instead, she held up a cannoned arm.

He took several steps back as the circulating silver machine slithered closer to him.

"Do you know why the first time your clones gave you their iron skin, it left you with no missile streaks?" The Giant was stunned by her saying this. "It is because the Robocity clones were the ones to sacrifice their metal to you, giving you their inferior skin that was prone to rust and weather. I, on the other hand, took all of your clones' metal for myself."

He was speechless.

"There is nothing you can do, Giant. But I cannot kill you and Hogarth yet. I need you for my project. You're right back to where you were October 8th, 1957. But, we are going to go back just a little bit further. Unless, of course, the two of you have a way to stop me."

The Giant turned to look at Hogarth as the aerial holograph finally faded.

He stared back.

"Well, Hogarth, are you going to denounce what everyone has just seen?" His eyes went from the Giant, to Tress, Ivan, Pygmy, his nephews… Abba. She held what was perhaps the strongest look of disapproval. "Will you admit what the two of you did was wrong?"

Hogarth considered this a moment. The Giant waited in fear of rejection. When his friend looked back at him it was only with love and acceptance. He then limped with his bad leg into the Giant's hand. Soberly the two rose together and – body to face – hugged each other close.

"Well," Gold directed her cannon at them, "I suppose we can do this without you then."

"No!" Taylor raced to stand in front of the two.

Everyone panicked as the little boy stood looking up at them.

"Taylor, what are you doing?" His uncle asked him, firm but worried. "Go over there."

"You didn't do anything wrong," he told the Giant and Hogarth, "You like each other, that doesn't mean you deserve to die." Tears came to his eyes. "You're Batman and-,"

An enormous purple hole opened over them. The Marketer's Project lifted it's gigantic arms to the sky to perform it's purpose. Names were called out as a strange, somehow wondrous phenomenon on earth happened. Men and women of sixty and above started giving way to urges long since forgotten and suppressed. Even some of the droids, who had apparently been hiding certain yearnings, gave in. Human-to-human, man-to-man or even human-to-droid sexual interactions began to occur in the expanding haze of purple.

"Yes!" Gold's voice shattered the dreamlike experience. "Go ahead and enjoy. For once you have made these foolish choices, your selfishness shall be rewarded in another era."

Hogarth called to Pygmy but she stood back from him, refusing to approach or speak.

"PYGMY!"

Her buttery eyes glowed with disappointment.

But, suddenly, she stiffened. All of the droids did.

"Pygmy," the Giant pulled her back as all of his clones shot up in flashes of blue light.

"Giant," she cried.

He turned to Hogarth, reached out his hand and let the man grasp it gently.

"Can you forgive me?"

It took a moment but then the man realized what his friend was asking.

"I…" He was ridden with shame. "I want to."

The Giant didn't look away.

Hogarth blurted out the truth. "I can't!"

Acceptance lit the automaton's now calm white eyes.

"No," Hogarth was quick to say, "Don't accept that. Don't… don't be at peace without me." The Giant now accepted the fact that Hogarth could never forgive his leaving him.

"I love you." His face and voice blurred.

"NOOOOO-Ohhhh." The man's own body and sense of being was wiped away.

Everyone was now pulled into a tidal wave of Time just as had happened some thirty-five years earlier. Gold had succeeded in her plans and now in the wake of her triumph the old droid declared a new name for herself which was the last verbal thing to be uttered in time:

"Dominatrix is my new name, my new beginning!"

To be continued…

~ Lavenderpaw ~

**AN: **Okay, so life is freaking hectic. I'm taking some time off and updating later on, so for the time being this is my hiatus chapter. Please enjoy re-reading The Protector for a while.

TTYL, ta ta for now. Thank you and good night! ;)


	18. Iron to dust, memory to ashes

**I.**

Right in the center of a settee armchair was where the disoriented Giant found himself sitting in. Groaning out a breath, the poor man covered his face and rubbed it up and down. Examining his hands he realized that they were flesh again. He made an attempt to stand and balance his new body... somehow, it didn't feel quite right to him. The living room looked oddly familiar in terms of structure but not in it's even odder décor. Breathing a few hard gasps of air, the Giant circled the living room he knew was Hogarth's. Hogarth! They were inside his old home. The Giant could barely believe this was happening and so he giddily ran to and up the stairway. He came now to stand at the beginning of the hall before stopping cold; reality was hitting him hard.

It was 1957. Hogarth was nine-years-old.

The Giant was too late to take the stairs two at a time, if there were in fact more stairs to take, it would have been nice to have just a little more time to prepare for what was waiting up here for him. He walked the narrow space seeing pictures obscured in shadow from apparent night.

Most of these photos the Giant realized were of Hogarth at different stages in his life. Despite the shock of being where he was and _when_ he was, the Giant still admired all the familiar faces. He finally stopped at a room that seemed to have the right aura around it but he hesitated here as well. Gold had sent them to this time... what if she had done more then that incredible feat?

A small, motionless form under some maroon covers made him consider what he was doing. Yes, time travel, human and robot mutation and even rapid cyborg growth and development existed but seeing Hogarth at this tender age still filled the Giant with warm nostalgic wonder.

This feeling of heat somehow travelled from the transmuted robot's heart to his hollowed and otherwise lightless eyes. Without his bright white optics, the Giant was left to wander up to his best friend cautiously. Suddenly the former automaton could understand Hogarth's hope. His body was surging with warmth, love and that magical last emotion he could always turn to for and share with his soulmate. 'Soulmate,' the Giant thought happily. He smiled in fond serenity.

"Hogarth." He spoke aloud, his large male hand touched the boy's shoulder.

"Daddy?" The answering voice was sleepy.

A whisper of cold blew through the Giant's heart but he tried to compose himself.

"No. No, it's me Hogarth. It's..." He trailed off and then said haltingly, "Your protector."

The boy's arm stiffened. "I don't have a protector." he said harshly.

Before he could turn around the Giant rushed to continue, "What do you mean? Of course I'm your protector. Hogarth, it's me." He was so quick and desperate. "Hogarth, please, I am your protector and I know everything about you. I l-..." his fingers fell back a little, feeling defeated.

"You _love _me?" Hogarth started to look over his shoulder but thought better of it.

"Hogarth," The Giant gave his arm a gentle but firm squeeze.

"Let go!" And just like that, he was under his covers.

"Hogarth..." It took every ounce of will power he had to control himself. "You don't remember me? You don't remember all the times we shared together? Hogarth, please, give me a chance."

"Tell me something only I'd know then." A boy shaped being under the blanket demanded.

The Giant kept his crying quiet, it wasn't unlike Hogarth to tease like this for an answer.

"Your favorite superhero is Superman."

"Wrong! It's Batman..."

The Giant blinked back tears as he tried to keep in spirit with Hogarth's childish game.

"Ha-ha! Just kiddin'. It's Superman." He flopped back down on his side, well hidden.

"Your favorite foods are hamburgers, hotdogs and twinkies."

"So is everyone else's," Two legs shot in the air under the covers, "Next!"

It was getting harder to control his emotions. "Hogarth, I-," the Giant tried reasoning.

"Kay, guess I don't believe you then."

Even at this impish arrogance, this Giant couldn't be mad at him.

"You're my best friend." He spoke gravelly despite his voice being so deep.

"You what-?" A face gingerly poked out from beneath the covers. "You're my _what_?"

"You're my best friend," the Giant turned away from the dark room. Hogarth couldn't see him and he figured it was for the best. "You're my buddy." he looked up and stared into the white silohuette of a young boy made from the moon and stars outside. "I want you to know that no matter what happens, I am always going to remember you. You're always going to be my best friend, even if you can't remember me. I love you." Outright sobbing, the man started to leave.

A small hand took his. "Wait," Hogarth said quietly, "I believe you."

The Giant sniffed at this irrational revelation, "How?" he wiped at his eyes, "Why?"

Another hand reached out to pull something out of a box and he felt a light substance touch his hand. "Go on, blow." The Giant settled for dabbing his eyes. "No one's ever called me that. I've never had a friend..." he took the man's hand again. "Not even a best one. I believe you, totally."

"But you don't remember me." They were both children now.

"Even if I don't remember you, I can still get to know you like I did before." Hogarth comforted.

"It wouldn't be the same..." The Giant tried to imagine starting over. "But I guess we could try."

"You're my best friend, right?" A finger flipped the light switch.

"Yes, always." The light went on. Hogarth turned to the Giant in his pajamas.

"Then there's no reason we can't-," he froze as he met his friend's eyes.

The Giant was more confused then shocked. He switched his still red-rimmed gaze to a picture directly beside Hogarth; it was one of a man boading a plane. His own light switch went on and the Giant turned back to look at the boy. "That's your father," he whispered to him respectfully.

"No..." Hogarth shook his head back and forth. "This is a dream. My father's dead."

"I'm sorry." The Giant told him sincerely.

"This is a fantasy." The boy was still stunned. "This isn't real. This is like a forgotten memory..."

" 'Memory?' "

"You look just like my father." Hogarth looked close to tears now.

The Giant reached a hand out for him when it struck him that this _wasn't _real.

He started to comprehend this at the same time his hand went right through Hogarth.

As their final fantasy began wanning, the young boy went into the arms of the man who showed right through him. The Giant closed his eyes, closed his arms and opened his heart to his destiny.

Maybe there was more to his fate then just saving Rockwell.

"Don't forget me." Hogarth said.

"I won't."

Their images faded from memory.

**II. **- Reality, early June 2000...

There was one other time Julianne knew of a woman who stood so determinedly looking out a window down at the Rockwell shore. She wheeled herself up to her daugther but the younger woman would not speak to her, Donna Lee kept staring with wet brown eyes out at the water.

"You don't have to tell me, I know I've been a terrible mother. Neglectful, overly strict..."

Julianne sighed. Search parties, an AMBER alert bullentin and an arrest warrent for John Rice. Even if her brother did come back safely from the future, Grandpa Dan was gone. Julie bowed her head in memory of all her old friends: Gord (her Apples) - she smiled briefly - Bethany, her neighbors, all the older people in Rockwell who had died over the years, carrying valuable and important information about the Iron Giant, about history, culture, family and sacred friendships.

"I don't wish your brother any harm, Mother, but he needs to pay for what he's done."

"Your uncle didn't steal those children," Julie argued quietly.

Donna-Lee wrapped the scarf about her neck more tightly. She suddenly _did_ look like she was Trisha out of the 1960's. Julianne told her daughter this, she told her of the extreme lengths she'd gone to get her own daughter, Taylor, back. Trisha was long gone, however. The woman, along with her daughter, Hogarth, Daniel and Robert had all changed names and left town. Julie could recall in one of nearly countless letters Hogarth had sent Daniel and Trisha's fates; Trisha was all wrapped up in trying to reach her daughter who was in a hospital; Where? Hogarth wasn't able to find. Daniel had died in 1998 of a heart attack. When she was finished Julianne looked up at her daughter. The woman met her mother's eyes with a sad understanding, grasping her words.

"You've been through so much, Mom." She said to her. "More than I can ever understand."

Julianne had a steely glint to her blue eyes, "I have a feeling, this isn't over yet dear. I believe we've only just begun with this saga. History... I believe, is going to repeat itself Donna-Lee."

"Oh, Mom."

"Don," Julie used the nickname she had rarely implemented over the years, "I'm serious."

Donna-Lee happened to glance away from her mother's unsually firm stare and was able to spot something outside. Delighted, uncontrollable happy noises popped out of her mouth as the mom of two bounced out of the living room and bounded across the porch to take hold of the person who was standing outside. Julianne was more cautious as she rolled herself gently out on to the pure white planks of her home. She watched as the bubbly blonde knelt down and hugged the short person: Jean? Taylor? When she glanced to the side of her porch, she saw the scattered remains of a purple and silver box - like something on the Sci-Fi channel - littered on the right side near the wooden rail. Donna-Lee and whoever was there now watched curiously as their matronly figure leaned down and scooped a small, silky powder into her fingers. Julianne knew it would fall in cascades to the floor as the wind picked up so she jumped down from her only means of transportation and started collecting what was grainy deep gray inside of her dress.

"What is this, Mother?" Donna-Lee questioned as a new helper joined the determined woman.

"Exactly what Robert told me about, ironstone. We're in a new phase of our story, dear."

" '_Our?_' " She refuted.

"Yes, my love, I'm afraid that once you enter into this lifestyle, you enter into it for all time."

The End.

**A/N: **I will be back next year, January 2013, with a new story to tell. This next story - sadly enough - will end my Iron Giant stories. Unless I come up with something even more awesome in the future. lol! I promise to only write when my passion is at it's peak. This next story will be a brand new surprise and adventure. Spoilers: It's a retelling of the original The Iron Giant. ^_^ :D

Until that time comes, thank you all so much for your support and encouragement!

~ Lavenderpaw ~


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